Australian coal mines have carbon emission reporting obligations under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (known as NGER). If a reporting entity exceeds 100,000t CO2-e p.a. it has additional obligations under the Safeguard Mechanism. Most coal mines report under the Safeguard Mechanism.

Under NGER, entities are required to report Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Scope 1 emissions relate to direct emissions that occur on site (e.g. combustion emissions, fugitive methane emissions). Scope 2 emissions relate to the emissions that occur off site as a result of the inputs used by an entity (e.g. electricity).

Coal mines are required to keep emissions within a set baseline emissions number under the Safeguard Mechanism. If emissions exceed the baseline emissions number, the responsible emitter for the mine may face significant financial liabilities. The oversight and control of NGER data is important for the coal mine to manage its obligations under the Safeguard Mechanism, particularly if it exceeds the set baseline emissions threshold.

A penalty is imposed on a reporting entity if it exceeds its baseline. The baseline was intended to be fixed based on historical emissions for the entity.

Carbon Logica can provide education and advisory services to organisations who need to know more. Our projects work with the providing regulations for benefit of the client by implementing projects that lower the mines carbon emissions.

The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) provides for methods that are able to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU’s). Our team has the knowledge and experience to work with these systems allowing projects to achieve finanical approvals by using ACCUs to help fund the project.