The Australian National Audit Office has released its audit of the Federal Government’s implementation and administration of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme (NGERS).

 

The audit examined whether the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) had effectively implemented the NGERS scheme; whether it had managed the integrity, security and quality of scheme data; monitored industry compliance with the provisions of the NGER Act; and streamlined reporting arrangements in line with the agreement by the Australian, state and territory governments.

 

The audit found that the DCCEE had produced a ‘workable’ emissions reporting scheme and has successfully dealt with the challenges of the Federal Government’s carbon pricing mechanism and the proposed introduction of an emissions trading scheme in 2015.

 

The audit also found that the DCCEE had built positive relationships with the registered corporations.

 

“DCCEE has established a positive relationship with the majority of registered corporations. In addition, over 50 per cent of corporations have indicated in their response to the ANAO’s survey that tangible benefits have been obtained from measuring their greenhouse gases and energy use,” the report found.

 

However, the ANAO also found that there room for improvement with key aspects of the DCCEE’s administration, including improving the integrity of reported greenhouse gas emission and energy use data; better managing of compliance with regulatory requirements and streamlining reporting obligations as intended by COAG.

 

The report found the current mechanism of corporations self-reporting to be of particular concern in regard to data integrity, concluding that the DCCEE should move improve its reporting integrity by independently verifying corporation’s emission levels.

 

The ANAO concluded with three major recommendations for the DCEE:

  • better target departmental compliance efforts
  • improve data sharing with Australian Government and authorised state or territory agencies
  • advance efforts to further streamline greenhouse gas emission and energy use reporting requirements.

 

The full audit can be found here