The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Amendment) Bill 2008
The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (NGER Act) establishes a mandatory reporting system for corporate greenhouse gas emissions and energy production and consumption. The first reporting period under the NGER Act commences on 1 July 2008.
Proposed Amendments to the Act
The Australian Government introduced amendments to the NGER Act into Parliament on 26 June 2008. The Amendment Bill proposes the Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer may publish additional information reported by corporations, and will make a number of minor administrative enhancements to better reflect the original policy intent of the NGER Act.The Amendment Bill does not represent any major shifts in government policy and the proposed changes will not impose additional regulatory burden. The Amendment Bill also has no immediate impact on the Regulations or the Determination to be released prior to 1 July 2008.
Proposed amendments have been discussed with stakeholders during 2008. Further information is available at: www.climatechange.gov.au/reporting/consultation.html
List of proposed amendments
Specifically, the Bill proposes the following changes:
- Mandatory separate publication by government of scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions (at the corporate group level);
- Allowing publication of information by government relating to the methodologies used by corporations to calculate their emissions (at corporate group level);
- Allowing the above information (i.e. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions and information about methodologies) broken down to the level of members of a corporation's group (including business units if preferred);
- Clarifying the scope of the Minister's power to specify methods for calculating emissions;
- Creating separate voluntary reporting and publication provisions for greenhouse gas offsets (i.e. splitting offsets from the existing provisions relating to greenhouse gas projects);
- Increased flexibility in the requirements for registration applications so that it is clear a corporation can apply for registration in advance of a threshold being met;
- Clarifying cases where there is uncertainty about whether a provision applies to the registered controlling corporation or to the whole corporate group (i.e. whether subsidiaries are covered). These include provisions relating to audit, disclosure of information, and direct reporting by contractors; and
- Confirming the meaning of certain definitions (including 'penalty unit').
The Amendment Bill and more information on its passage through Parliament is available from the Parliament House website at: www.aph.gov.au/bills
