ACCU Scheme Project Audits and Yield Thresholds

The new Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) (Audit Thresholds) Instrument 2025 was registered on 19 March 2025 and is now in effect. The Instrument is used to set the audit schedule for ACCU Scheme projects including EP Method.

The ACCU System integrity requires that audits are undertaken to ensure compliance and real abatement. Integrity of abatement is a key element of the ACCU Scheme. A risk-based approach to compliance ensures that audits are targeted to situations where they can provide the greatest value in supporting scheme integrity.

It prescribes thresholds for different types of audits, including scheduled audits and triggered audits. It also sets requirements for alternative assurance projects that may be eligible for a reduced number of audits.

ACCU scheme projects are typically subject to three audits:

the ’initial audit’ is undertaken at the end of the first reporting period within five years of the project registration date and then one to accompany every third offsets report.
If your project delivers over 100,000 tCO₂-e in any given reporting period, an additional audit is triggered.

Annual average abatement amount	Total Audits (25 years)
50,000 tCO2-e or less	3
50,001 to 150,000 tCO₂-e	4
More than 150,000 tCO₂-e	6

Belts and Blocks

If you have an EP project with a block planting configuration (200 stems per hectare) < 200 hectares, this requires no audit as there is low risk (read more about alternative assurance project criteria below).
If you have an EP project with a belt planting configuration (800 stems per hectare) < 200 hectares, you will require at least 3 audits due to the higher yield associated with the FULLCAM calibration for belts.

Alternative Assurance

ACCU scheme projects are typically required to undergo one initial audit and subsequent audits based on scale in order to maintain scheme integrity.

The Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Amendment (Audit) Rule 2021 provided for a new category of “alternative assurance projects” which may be subject to fewer or no scheduled audits. These amendments recognised that, as industry innovates and technologies develop, there are opportunities to recognise alternatives to traditional project auditing while still providing a level of assurance that is fit for purpose and does not reduce scheme integrity. Such alternatives can reduce administrative burden for participants and broaden scheme participation, including for small-scale projects for which the audit costs are a barrier to participating in the ACCU Scheme.

A project can qualify for zero scheduled audits (and no conditions related to operation, monitoring or reporting have to be met) if it meets all four of the following conditions:

Land Tenure: The person running the project must be the owner, leaseholder, or native title holder for the entire project area.
Size Limit: The project's total carbon planting area must be no more than 200 hectares.
Planting Type: It must be a mixed-species block planting.
Monitoring: The Clean Energy Regulator must be able to monitor the project using geospatial tools, like satellite mapping.

With audit costs typically ranging between $10,000 and $30,000, this new 'low-risk' catgory is significant for smaller landholders and project developers.

We can help you

Get in touch with us to help you choose an appropriate project design, ensuring eligibility for alternative assurance where possible, and help you reduce compliance costs, streamline delivery, and maintain full alignment with ACCU scheme requirements.