Emissions reduction fund contracts worth $24m cancelled after failure to deliver cuts

The Clean Energy Regulator has cancelled six contracts from the government’s emissions reduction fund because they did not deliver the necessary cuts to carbon emissions.

Labor and the Greens say the move is a sign the policy should be abandoned.

The projects, worth a total of $24m, were cancelled at the end of October and should have delivered 2 million carbon credits.

Under the emissions reduction fund, bidders nominate how cheaply they think they can deliver emissions reductions.

The government buys carbon credits from successful projects only after they have verified the cuts to emissions have been delivered.

“As none of the contracts delivered ACCUs (Australian carbon credit units) before they lapsed or terminated, no funds were paid for these contracts,” a spokeswoman for the Clean Energy Regulator said.

“Six contracts, from the fifth emissions reduction fund auction, were terminated or lapsed in October 2018 with a total contracted volume of approximately 2 million Australian carbon credit units.”

The six contracts that were cancelled were all land-based projects that would have allowed the restoration or reforestation of land that had previously been cleared.

“To date, none of the projects associated with these contracts have generated abatement,” the regulator’s spokeswoman said. “Although the contracts have now lapsed or terminated, the proponent may continue running the project and may generate abatement as long as it remains eligible and meets the scheme’s requirements.”

She said the money would be redirected into new projects and the government’s next auction – the eighth auction for the fund – would happen next month.

After the last auction in June, just over $250m remained in the fund from an initial $2.55bn.

Labor’s climate change and energy spokesman, Mark Butler, said the policy was not working.

“This latest result of the ERF comes as no surprise,” he said. “Under the Liberals, carbon pollution has skyrocketed and the government’s own data indicates that carbon pollution will continue to rise all the way to 2030 under current policies.

“The fact the Morrison government is still persisting with Tony Abbott’s emissions reduction fund shows just how much the hard right dictates the Liberals’ climate policy.”

The Greens’ climate change and energy spokesman, Adam Bandt, said “projects getting cancelled is a sign we should be cancelling the whole policy”.

He said it was costing taxpayers millions and Australia’s emissions were still rising .

“We need to be closing down coal-fired power stations and charging polluters, not throwing public money at schemes that can’t deliver.”

Comment was sought from the environment minister, Melissa Price.

The regulator said it still had 423 contracted projects that should deliver 190 million tonnes of carbon abatement.