We continue to maintain the Registers of Accredited Abatement Certificate Providers and Abatement Certificates for the Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme (GGAS).

There are two main types of Abatement Certificates:

  • NSW Greenhouse Abatement Certificates (NGACs), which covers the remaining Abatement Certificate sub-types
  • Large User Abatement Certificates (LUACs), one sub-type of the Abatement Certificate.

Although GGAS closed in 2012, there is still around 5 million un-surrendered certificates that represent tonnes of CO2-e of abated greenhouse emissions. These certificates can continue be used to participate in voluntary offset schemes until they are surrendered.

All un-surrendered certificates continue to be registered in the existing GGAS Registry.

The GGAS Registry

The GGAS Registry was closed in September 2022 and all NGACs, except for LUACs, were migrated to the Registry of Certificates in our new online system TESSA. The Register of LUACs is now located on the Register of LUACs webpage. Both registers are publicly available.

Although GGAS has closed, we will continue to maintain the GGAS registers.

Certificate ownership

Any member of the public can own abatement certificates, but LUACs can only be owned by the business that generated them. If the business that generated the LUAC is subsequently sold, the LUACs may be transferred to the new owner of the business.

Certificate transfer

The registers are not trading platforms, as trading of certificates occurs elsewhere. Where a trade has occurred, whether bilaterally, through brokers or through other trading platforms, the change in ownership of those certificates must be recorded on the registers. Refer to our Register of LUACs page for information on how to transfer a LUAC and the Registry of Certificates page for how to transfer all other types of NGACs.

Certificate surrender

Any certificate owner can offset emissions through the surrender of certificates (known as voluntary surrender). The surrender of one certificate is equivalent to the abatement of one tonne of carbon dioxide. As with transfers, all surrenders must be recorded on the registers. Refer to our Register of LUACs page for information on how to surrender a LUAC and the Registry of Certificates page for how to surrender all other types of NGACs.