Does my business need to report?
From 1 July 2008, all businesses must apply for registration with the Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer if they:
- are a constitutional corporation, and
- meet a reporting threshold for greenhouse gases or energy use or production for a reporting (financial) year.
Registered corporations must then report their greenhouse gas emissions and energy use and production for each year in which they meet a threshold.
Self assessment
Businesses are responsible for assessing their liability under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (the NGER Act).
To determine whether your corporation is required to participate, you will need to work through a series of questions. These will help businesses to:
- find out about the reporting thresholds
- determine the activities and associated greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption and production for which they are responsible, and
- assess whether they have met a reporting threshold.
Chapter 1 of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Guidelines describes in full the information that is needed for a corporation to answer these questions and find out whether it must participate.
Step one - check the reporting thresholds
The two types of thresholds at which corporations are required to participate are ‘facility’ thresholds and ‘corporate’ thresholds. Both types have a greenhouse gas threshold and an energy threshold.
If a corporation exceeds any one or more of the four thresholds for each reporting year, registration is required.
The corporate group thresholds lower each year over the first three reporting years.
Notes: TJ = terajoule (1012 joules) of energy consumed or produced; kt = kilotonne (106 kilograms) CO2‑e equivalent of greenhouse gases emitted.Conversion factors: Energy—1 terajoule = 1000 gigajoules, 1 gigajoule = 1000 megajoules, 1 megajoule = 1000 kilojoules, 1 kilojoule = 1000 joules; CO2‑e emissions—1 kilotonne = 1000 tonnes, 1 tonne = 1000 kilograms.
As a guide, businesses emitting more than 25 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, or consuming more than 25 000 megawatts of electricity or 2.5 million litres of fuel in a year, can expect to be required to report
Step two – determine whether your corporation is a controlling corporation
The Act requires “controlling corporations” to register and report where their corporate group emits greenhouse gases or produces or consumes energy at or above the specified thresholds for a reporting year.
A controlling corporation is a constitutional corporation that does not have a holding company in Australia; it is generally the corporation at the top of the corporate hierarchy in Australia. Foreign corporations may also be controlling corporations.
Step three – define your controlling corporation’s group
A controlling corporation’s group may include the following members, in addition to the controlling corporation itself:
- subsidiaries
- joint ventures
- partnerships.
Note, however, that there are some further issues to consider when determining whether a particular subsidiary, joint venture or partnership is a member of a given controlling corporation’s group
Step four – define the facilities operated by your corporate group and who has operational control
Registered corporations are required to report all greenhouse gas emissions, energy production and energy consumption from ‘facilities’ under the operational control of the registered corporation or a member of its group.
An activity or series of activities forms a ‘facility’ under the Act when the activities:
- produce greenhouse gas emissions or produce or consume energy
- are part of a production process
- occur at a ‘single site’
- are attributable to a single industry sector.
Examples of facilities include: retail outlets, primary production and manufacturing plants, construction sites, air, rail road and water transport, and electricity, gas or water supply. A corporation is considered to have operational control over a facility if it has authority to introduce and implement operating, health and safety, and environmental policies. Only one corporation can have operational control over a facility at any time.
Step five – apply the thresholds to your controlling corporation’s group
When corporations have determined operational control and the facilities, activities and associated greenhouse gas emissions and energy they are responsible for, the data can be entered into the NGERS Calculator to help determine whether they have met a facility or corporate threshold.
A user manual is available to assist businesses to use the calculator. Additional support is available by calling 1800 018 831.