Safeguard Mechanism Reform and increased ACCU activities

In 2023, the Australian government passed the Safeguard Mechanism amendment bill to further strengthen its climate policy. One of the key new features introduced includes the baseline decline rate. This feature gradually reduces the baseline for the covered facilities, targeting a 4.9% per year rate from 2023 to 2030, and an estimated 3.285% rate for 2030 onwards.4 The reform motivates business operators to focus on GHG emissions reduction strategy and measures.

It has also stimulated ACCU demand. The number of ACCUs surrendered for Safeguard requirements surged after the reform commenced in July 2023. Coinciding with the surrender deadline, Q1 2024 saw almost 900,000 ACCUs cancelled for Safeguard, compared to 203,000 ACCUs in Q1 2023 and 251,000 ACCUs in Q1 2022.

Rising ACCU demand to meet Safeguard Mechanism requirements (numbers in millions)

Figure 1: ACCU Cancellations by source (in millions)
Source: CER

A similar trend is reflected in the composition of ACCU holders. As the total holdings continued to increase, ACCUs held by Safeguard and Safeguard related entities reached a new high of 22.6 million, which accounts for roughly 55% of total outstanding ACCUs at the end of Q2 2024.

ACCUs are increasingly held for potential Safeguard Mechanism uses (numbers in millions)

Figure 2: ACCU holdings (in millions) by market participation
Source: CER

In the private sector, companies are also increasingly adopting emission related policies. According to the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), the number of ASX200 eligible companies with a net-zero commitment has climbed from 14 (7%) in 2019 to 131 (66%) by the end of Q1 2024.5 At the same time the ACCU Scheme also saw solid gain in the number of new projects since 2019, with a peak of 134 new projects onboarded in Q3 2023. The number of ACCUs issued showed a milder growth trend. In 2019, there were 14.8 million ACCUs issued. The number topped in 2022 at 17.7 million and moderated to 17.2 million in 2023.

Growth in new projects registration and ACCUs issuance

Figure 3: Number of ACCU Issued and Number of New Projects
Source: CER

New derivative market meets the need for ACCU risk management

As Australia’s carbon policy continues to evolve and the ACCU market dynamic changes, participants are increasingly looking to the derivative markets for price risk management solutions.

In October 2024, CME Group launched the CBL Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) futures on NYMEX in response to the market needs. Upon expiry, the futures are settled by physical delivery of ACCUs at the CBL-Platts Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) spot price. The delivery process and transfer of ACCU is administered by CBL Markets, a leading platform for environmental commodity products.

The monthly listing structure of the CBL ACCU futures allows firms and facilities to manage their long-term exposures up to three years forward. The futures also strengthen CME Group’s emission product offering, providing market participants access to hedging tools for both voluntary and compliance markets on one exchange. 

Key contract specifications of CBL Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) futures

Footnotes

Cameron Liao
Cameron Liao
Cameron Liao, Director, International Research and Product Development, CME Group

joined the CME Group in 2008 in New York. Now based in Singapore, Cameron is responsible for research and product development initiatives across Agricultural, Energy and Metal commodities for Asia Pacific markets.

All examples in this report are hypothetical interpretations of situations and are used for explanation purposes only. The views in this report reflect solely those of the author and not necessarily those of CME Group or its affiliated institutions. This report and the information herein should not be considered investment advice or the results of actual market experience.

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