The Australian government has announced it will accelerate the development of the guarantee of origin (GO) scheme that is designed to track and verify emissions associated with hydrogen and renewable electricity, helping to unlock new economic opportunities for local companies.
Federal Assistant Energy Minister Jenny McAllister said that as the world decarbonises, it will become increasingly important for businesses to be able to account for their products’ emissions intensity.
“The guarantee of origin scheme will give Australian companies a competitive advantage by providing government-backed certification of the carbon intensity of key green products,” she said.
The government said it plans to have the voluntary scheme in operation by the second half of 2025.
McAllister said the scheme will provide the “emissions accounting backbone” to support the development of Australia’s green industries.
The GO scheme will issue digital certificates that allow producers, exporters and users to prove where a product has come from, how it was made, and the emissions generated throughout its lifecycle.
The digital certificates will be used to establish eligibility for tax credits under the hydrogen production tax incentive announced in the 2024/25 Federal Budget. The Australian government has committed $6.7 billion (USD 4.52 billion) over 10 years for renewable hydrogen produced from 2027.
The GO scheme will initially measure and track the emissions associated with hydrogen production and will then expand to include low-carbon liquid fuels like sustainable aviation fuel, green metals like steel and aluminium, biomethane and biogas, and potentially other clean energy products.
The scheme will be supported by the renewable electricity guarantee of origin scheme, which will issue digital certificates proving when, where and how renewable energy was produced. The scheme will replace the Renewable Energy Target (RET) in 2030 as the framework for certifying renewable electricity.
“The guarantee of origin scheme is the most important green industry program you never heard of,” McAllister said, adding that it is a “key to new market opportunities for Australian energy exporters in the race to net zero.”
McAllister said government is currently considering the submissions made as part of its consultation into the design of the GO scheme, with a final response to that consultation due to be released “shortly.”
From there, the aim is to finalise the enabling legislation for the scheme so it can commence operation in the second half of 2025.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.