NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Certificates
Large User Abatement Certificates
Registry

The tradeable commodity used in the Scheme is called a NSW Greenhouse Abatement Certificate or NGAC. One NGAC represents the abatement of one tonne of CO₂-e associated with the consumption of electricity in NSW.

NGACs are transferable certificates that may only be created by accredited abatement certificate providers. NGACs can be created by accredited providers who have engaged in the following activities:

• Low-emission generation of electricity or improved generator efficiency (Generation)
• Activities that result in reduced consumption of electricity or on-site generation of electricity (Demand Side Abatement)
• The capture of carbon from the atmosphere in forests (Carbon Sequestration)

The surrender of NGACs to the Compliance Regulator is the main way that benchmark participants will abate their greenhouse gas emissions and reach their individual greenhouse gas benchmark levels.

NGACs are created and then registered on the scheme Registry. The Registry records ownership details of NGACs and the status of a certificate at any point in time.

The other type of certificate is the Large User Abatement Certificate which can only be created by a Large User who has elected to manage its own benchmark. LUACs are non-tradeable.