Minister would have to publish carbon credit science
Carbon credits pay farmers and businesses for cutting or storing greenhouse gases, the gases that heat up the planet. This bill comes from an MP who is not a minister. It would raise the bar for approving the rule books that decide how credits are earned.
Official name: Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Amendment Bill 2026
- The Minister could only approve a new carbon credit method if it fully matches the goals of the law.
- All papers, models and science behind a method would have to be put out for public comment first.
- The Minister would be blocked if the expert panel says a method may not meet the rules for real cuts.
- It comes from Alison Penfold MP, who is not a minister. It has not yet been debated.
Who it affects
- Farmers and landholders running carbon projects: New methods for earning carbon credits would face a tougher test before they could be used.
- Businesses and governments putting forward new methods: Weak methods would be more likely to be turned down. The bill says this should put people off putting them forward.
- The public: You would get to see and comment on the science and models behind a method before it is approved.
Who checks carbon credit methods
Australia has a carbon credit scheme. People who cut greenhouse gases or store carbon can earn credits. Growing trees is one example. They can sell these credits to big polluters or the government.
The rules for each type of project are set out in a method. A method explains how to measure the carbon saved. It also says how many credits a project earns. The law's formal name for a method is a methodology determination.
Before the Minister makes a method, an expert panel gives advice. It is called the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee. It checks whether the method meets a set of rules. These rules are meant to make sure each credit stands for a real cut in gases.
Alison Penfold MP brought this bill into the House of Representatives on 22 June 2026. That is the lower house of Parliament. She is not a government minister. Her notes on the bill say it aims to make sure the scheme can be trusted. They say it should put anyone, even governments, off putting forward methods that may not meet the rules.
The Parliamentary Library works for all MPs and takes no side. It says she brought the bill in ahead of a new method that many people argued about. That method gives credits for how some public native forests are managed. These forests are used for more than one thing. A vote to throw out that method was due for debate on 15 September 2026.
Two new tests for ministers
Today the Minister must already be sure that a method meets the rules for real cuts. The bill adds two more tests.
First, the Minister must be sure the method fully fits the goals of the main carbon credit law. That law is the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011. It sets out its own goals at the start.
Second, all papers, models and science about the method must have been made public, so people can comment and check it properly.
Say a company puts forward a new method for earning credits by changing how cattle graze. Under this bill, its model of how much carbon the soil would store would have to be put out for comment. Only then could the Minister approve it.
Easier to say no
Right now the Minister cannot make a method if the expert panel says it does not meet the rules.
The bill changes this. The Minister also could not make a method if the panel says it may not meet the rules. A doubt would be enough to stop it.
It also changes the wording of what the panel's advice must cover. The panel would look at whether a method may not meet the rules.
The changes would apply to forms for new carbon projects sent in before or after the law starts.
Start date
The law would start the day after the Governor-General signs it. The Governor-General stands in for the King.
The bill went into the House of Representatives on 22 June 2026. On the same day, she formally asked the House to vote on its main idea. It has not been debated. It would need to pass the House and then the Senate, Parliament's second house.
The government has its own, separate bill. It is called the Carbon Credits and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026. That bill would replace the expert panel with a new Carbon Abatement Integrity Committee. Abatement means cutting gases.
Its journey through Parliament
| 22 Jun 2026 | House of Representatives: Introduced and read a first time |
| 22 Jun 2026 | House of Representatives: Second reading moved |