EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Climate Change
and Energy Efficiency
Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011
Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) – Landfill Legacy Emissions Avoidance Project Specification 2011
Section 5 of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (the Act) provides that ‘landfill legacy emissions avoidance project’ means ‘a project to avoid emissions of greenhouse gases from the operation of a landfill facility, to the extent to which the emissions are attributable to waste accepted by the facility before the day specified in a legislative instrument made by the Minister for the purposes of this definition’. The Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) – Landfill Legacy Emissions Avoidance Project Specification 2011 (the Specification) specifies 1 July 2012 for this purpose.
Projects to avoid emissions of greenhouse gases attributable to waste accepted by a landfill facility before 1 July 2012 will be eligible to generate Kyoto Australian carbon credit units under the Act. Projects to avoid emissions of greenhouse gases attributable to waste accepted by a landfill facility on or after 1 July 2012, however, will not be eligible to generate credits. Instead, reductions in emissions attributable to waste deposited in a landfill facility on or after 1 July 2012 will reduce the facility’s liability (if any) under the carbon pricing mechanism.
Consultation
The Specification has been prepared following public consultation on the design of the Carbon Farming Initiative and the draft Bill for the Act, undertaken between October 2010 and February 2011. Both the consultation paper and draft Bill proposed a date of 1 July 2011 as the cut-off date for legacy waste. Following consultation, the decision was made to specify a date that coincided with the commencement of a carbon price. This decision was reflected in a document, ‘Outcomes of Consultation’, which is available on the Department’s website.
Authority: Section 5 of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011