Welcome to the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting training video series.
This series is delivered by the Clean Energy Regulator and aims to help you report under
the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007, also known as the NGER Act.
This video will cover reporting scope 2 emissions under the NGER Act.
There is a range of terms used in this video that have a specific meaning, including Clean
Energy Regulator, NGER, NGER Act, EERS and Regulation.
To learn what each of these means, please refer to the video ‘Introduction to the
Clean Energy Regulator and NGER’, from the NGER training video series, available by following
the links at the end of this video.
Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions are the emissions released to the atmosphere from the consumption
of an energy commodity that was produced elsewhere.
For example, a power station burns coal to power its generators and in turn creates electricity.
Burning the coal causes scope 1, or direct, greenhouse emissions to be emitted.
If the electricity is then supplied to the grid and then consumed by a factory to power
its machinery and lighting, the consumption of the electricity is considered to generate
scope 2, or indirect, emissions.
Consumers influence the amount of greenhouse gas emissions being emitted by the power station
through their demand for electricity.
If you purchase your electricity from the grid that supplies electricity to the largest
percentage of the population in your state or territory then you are purchasing electricity
from the main grid.
On the east coast this is considered to be the National Electricity Market and in Western
Australia the main grid is considered to be the South West Interconnected System.
Each state or territory has its own scope 2 emission factor that reflects how the electricity
is generated so it is important that you ensure that you have selected the correct state or
territory for your facility when you report your electricity consumption.
If you purchase your electricity from a grid that doesn’t supply electricity to the largest
percentage of the population in your state or territory then you are purchasing electricity
from another source.
If your supplier provides you with a custom emission factor for the purchased electricity,
then that is the factor you will use when reporting.
Otherwise, you are required to use the default factor which is the same as that for the Northern
Territory.
You are required to report scope 2 emissions from electricity when:
• it is purchased from the main electricity grid in a state or territory or another source
outside the facility, and • you consume over 20,000 kilowatt hours
from the operation of a facility in a reporting period.
You do not report scope 2 emissions in relation to electricity generated onsite.
Instead, emissions from onsite generation are reported as scope 1.
For more information, see the video ‘Reporting electricity production and consumption’
by following the links at the end of this video.
So, how do you report scope 2 emissions from electricity in EERS?
Firstly, you need to log in to your EERS workspace and navigate to the ‘Data Entry’ tab at
the top left of the screen.
For more information on how to log in, please refer to the ‘An introduction to the Emissions
and Energy Reporting System’ video in this series and our Guides and factsheets, linked
at the end of this video.
Once in EERS, if you can’t see your list of entities on the left of the screen, click
on the show corporate structure button.
In this example, we will demonstrate reporting the consumption of electricity purchased from
the main grid.
Next, select the facility you are entering data for from your corporate structure in
the left menu bar.
In this example, Facility 3 is selected.
To start entering activity data, click on the ‘Add Activity’ button under the ‘Activity
Details’ heading.
Note that the information you enter in the ‘Add Activity’ page does not autosave
– you need to make sure you complete the entire activity and select the ‘Save’
button before exiting the page or browser, otherwise you will lose what you have entered.
. The first field is the ’Activity description’.
It is an optional, free text field that allows you to enter a custom description for the
activity.
This description allows you to identify and contextualise the activity.
For example, if you have multiple buildings, pieces of machinery, or mine or well sites
within your facility, you might include the name or serial number in this field.
Alternatively, you might describe the activity, for example ‘Reporting of electricity consumption’.
Select a source category from the available options in the drop-down menu.
In this instance, for reporting consumption of purchased electricity, select scope 2 emissions.
Next, choose the activity from the available options in the activity drop-down menu.
In this case, the correct activity is ‘purchase and loss of electricity from main electricity
grid in a state or territory’.
Under ‘State’, select the state or territory in which the activity occurred from the drop-down
menu.
This field will automatically default to the same as the state or territory the facility
is located in.
In this example, Queensland is selected.
When an activity is relatively small, a reporter can choose to use incidental reporting and
estimate the quantity of energy consumed, and the resulting emissions, using their own
methodology.
See the incidental reporting thresholds in Regulation 4.27 for more information.
In this example, the source is above the incidental thresholds, so select ‘No’ in the ‘Incidental
Emissions’ drop-down menu.
This field will automatically default to ‘No’.
The next step is to enter the ‘Quantity’ of electricity consumed for the activity.
Enter the amount in either kilowatt hours or gigajoules.
The drop-down menu for selecting the relevant measure will default to kilowatt hours – make
sure the correct unit of measure is selected.
In this example, one million kilowatt hours of purchased electricity was consumed.
. The ‘energy content’ will be automatically calculated by EERS, based on the state and
quantity entered, above.
Next, select the method that you are using to report your scope 2 emissions from the
method drop down menu.
There are two method 1’s available for scope 2 emissions:
• The first method is available for estimating emissions from electricity purchased or lost
from the main electricity grid in a state or territory.
• The second method is available for estimating emissions from electricity purchased or lost
from sources other than the main grid.
As an aside, if you had selected ‘purchase and loss of electricity from other sources’
as the activity, you would be prompted to select whether you are using the default emission
factors or entering a factor provided to you by your electricity supplier.
To nominate using the default factor, tick the box.
This option will not be available if you are reporting purchased electricity from the main
grid.
Once you have entered all the required information, click on the ‘Calculate’ button.
Then, click on the ‘Save’ button at the very bottom of the page to save the activity
in EERS.
EERS will display a warning if any required information is missing.
If this warning occurs, you must go back and correct any omissions before you can save.
Once you press save, your entered data will appear in its own row in the ‘Activity details’
table for the facility.
It will also be reflected in the emissions and energy totals in the ‘Facility emissions
and summary table’.
If you want to edit or delete an existing entry, click on the appropriate icon under
the ‘Action’ heading.
The pencil icon allows you to edit the activity, and the cross icon allows you to delete the
activity.
Be careful when deleting activities as you cannot undo a deletion and will have to re-enter
if deleted by mistake.
From the facility summary page you can continue to report additional activities for this facility,
you can edit the facility identification details, or you can enter contractor data.
You can also navigate the corporate structure to enter data under other facilities or the
corporate entity, or you can select the ‘Exit’ button to leave this facility.
This video is from the NGER training video series.
The Clean Energy Regulator has published a range of resources on its website, www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au,
to help you in your obligations to report under the NGER Act.
To access our training video series, visit our website and search ‘Videos’.
To access our more comprehensive written guidance documents, visit our website and search ‘Guides
and factsheets’.
To access calculators to assist you in assessing reporting obligations, estimating uncertainty
in emissions, and estimating emissions from solid waste and wastewater operations, visit
our website and search ‘Calculators’.
For more information or help with reporting under the NGER scheme, please contact us by
calling 1300 553 542, emailing us at reporting@cleanenergyregulator.gov.au, or visiting our website at www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au.
This video has been developed by the Clean Energy Regulator to assist persons to comply
with their reporting obligations under the NGER Act.
This video should be viewed in conjunction with the NGER Act and supporting Regulations
and Determination.
Changes to legislation may affect the information in this video.
The examples used in this video are for illustrative purposes only, this video is not intended
to provide legal advice.
If persons have concerns or questions about the application of legislation in their particular
circumstances, they should seek professional advice.