Greenhouse emissions reporting

National greenhouse emissions reporting will commence by 1 July 2008 through purpose-built legislation or the National Pollutant Inventory, according to the Council for the Australian Federation.

The agreement was made at the council's 12 April 2007 meeting.

As emissions reporting is a fundamental prerequisite of any emissions trading scheme, if the Commonwealth government has not introduced legislation in time for the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System to be activated by 1 July 2008, the states and territories will require reporting from this date through the National Pollutant Inventory as an interim measure.

The council also agreed that a national emissions trading scheme should place Australia on a path towards achieving a 60% cut in national emissions by 2050, compared with 2000 levels, and endorsed the National Emissions Trading Taskforces timeline for the implementation of a national emissions trading scheme by the end of 2010.

Achieving that timeline will require: entering into an intergovernmental agreement by the end of 2007; and passing legislation through all parliaments by the end of 2008 "” or as soon as possible thereafter "” to achieve implementation of the NETS by the end of 2010.

The full communiqué from the Council for the Australian Federation can be read at the National Emissions Trading Taskforce website: www.emissionstrading.net.au.