National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendments for FY15/16

Amendments to two key pieces of National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) legislation have been made that will affect reporting procedures for the FY15/16 reporting year.

The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Measurement) Amendment Determination 2015 (No. 1) and National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment (2015 Measures No. 1) Regulation 2015 see a number of changes to the NGER reporting process.

Of critical importance is the change to the Global Warming Potential to Methane, which will increase from 21 tCO₂-e to 25 tCO₂-e. A common reportable substance in the solid waste and waste water sectors this will lead to a significant impact on emission profiles for businesses reporting in these sectors. The Global Warming Potentials, furthermore, for each NGER reportable greenhouse gas have been updated. Table 1 details each change.

Table 1. GWP FY14/15 & FY15/16

Item	Greenhouse gas	Chemical formula	Global Warming Potential (GWP) FY14/15	Global Warming Potential (GWP) FY15/16
1	Carbon dioxide	CO2	1	1
2	Methane	CH4	21	25
3	Nitrous oxide	N2O	310	298
4	Sulphur hexafluoride	SF6	23 900	22 800
5	HFC‑23	CHF3	11 700	14 800
6	HFC‑32	CH2F2	650	675
7	HFC‑41	CH3F	150	92
8	HFC‑43‑10mee	C5H2F10	1 300	1 640
9	HFC‑125	C2HF5	2 800	3 500
10	HFC‑134	C2H2F4(CHF2CHF2)	1 000	1 100
11	HFC‑134a	C2H2F4(CH2FCF3)	1 300	1 430
12	HFC‑143	C2H3F3(CHF2CH2F)	300	353
13	HFC‑143a	C2H3F3(CF3CH3)	3 800	4 470
14	HFC‑152a	C2H4F2(CH3CHF2)	140	124
15	HFC‑227ea	C3HF7	2 900	3 220
16	HFC‑236fa	C3H2F6	6 300	9 810
17	HFC‑245ca	C3H3F5	560	693
18	Perfluoromethane (tetrafluoromethane)	CF4	6 500	7 390
19	Perfluoroethane (hexafluoroethane)	C2F6	9 200	12 200
20	Perfluoropropane	C3F8	7 000	8 830
21	Perfluorobutane	C4F10	7 000	8 860
22	Perfluorocyclobutane	c‑C4F8	8 700	10 300
23	Perfluoropentane	C5F12	7 500	9 160
24	Perfluorohexane	C6F14	7 400	9 300

We expect that all changes to emission factors will be incorporated into EERS. Reporters likely to be affected should incorporate the updated emissions factors into their calculations processes for continuous monitoring purposes.

Further changes are also detailed, in particular the annual updates to emission factors associated with electricity consumption. The changes for the Measurement Determination are detailed here and the Regulation are detailed here.

Both amendments do not apply for the FY14/15 reporting year.