Submission: Inquiry into the Carbon Credits and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026

8 October 2026
 

To: Committee Secretary, Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications, PO Box 6100, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600
Re: Inquiry into the Carbon Credits and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026
 

Thank you for the opportunity for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) to provide input to the inquiry into the Carbon Credits and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026.

IEEFA is an independent energy finance think tank that examines issues related to energy markets, trends and policies. The Institute’s mission is to accelerate the transition to a diverse, sustainable and profitable energy economy. IEEFA recommends:

Recommendation 1: Under section 122A, the CAIC should be given an explicit function to monitor and publicly report on the status of expired or lapsing methods, including the opportunity cost of expiring methods.

Recommendation 2: With the expiry of the CMWG method in March 2025, the minister should request, under section 123E, CAIC priority be given to methane abatement methods.

Recommendation 3: IEEFA welcomes the removal of the restriction that the new publication power under the new section 23A applies only to information relating to FY2025-26 and later financial years. IEEFA recommends the draft consultation on these regulations include:

• 3A) A minimum of three years of historical information be required, providing for historical context to allow for informed interpretation, without regulatory burden; and
• 3B) Section 23A should prescribe publication of the source-category split of each Safeguard facility’s Scope 1 emissions (fugitive, fuel combustion and other).

Recommendation 4: The Bill should extend to ACCU-surrender method reporting. Existing disclosures should be increased such that the project identifier is published for each facility.

Recommendation 5: The statutory review cycle for the CFI Act be retained at three-yearly intervals at least until 2030, or be triggered when one sector’s demand for ACCUs becomes a significant share of issuance, such as IEEFA projects will occur with coalmining by 2030.

Kind regards,

Andrew Gorringe, Energy Finance Analyst, Australian Coal