Glossary›Emissions accounting and measurement›Climate Active
Glossary term
Cluster D · D37
Tier 1 · differentiator
Climate Active
Definition
Climate Active was the Australian Government’s voluntary certification program for carbon neutral claims, administered by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Certified organisations measured their emissions, reduced where practical and cancelled credits against the remainder. The Government has decided to close the program and discontinue the certification and its trade marks.
Administered by DCCEEW
· voluntary program, no statutory basis ·
Closing
On this page
In practice
This entry describes a program in wind-down, and any advice written before mid-2026 is now out of date.
In July 2026 DCCEEW released a consultation confirming the decision to close Climate Active and cease voluntary carbon neutral certification. Two options were put: close the program with no ongoing government standards or guidance, or close certification while retaining some high-integrity voluntary standards and guidance. Under both options, certification, the Climate Active trade marks, the use of the term “carbon neutral” for voluntary claims under the program, and the register of consultants are discontinued. Consultation closed 18 September 2026, with a decision expected before the end of 2026 and certification expected to cease on 30 June 2027.
The stated rationale is that mandatory climate reporting and strengthened policy have changed the context for voluntary action. The practical background is that public trust in the “carbon neutral” label had fallen and greenwashing litigation had risen: the May 2025 settlement of the Parents for Climate action against EnergyAustralia, then the program’s largest participant, is the reference case.
What this means for a captured entity, concretely.
Your position
What to do
Currently certified
Plan what your public claims say after certification ceases. The badge disappears while the marketing material and the website do not.
Considering certification
Do not start.
Supplier or customer contracts reference Climate Active certification
You have a contractual review to do.
Captured by the mandatory regime
Climate Active certification is not and never was a pathway to compliance with the mandatory regime; the two obligations are unrelated.
The distinction to hold onto is that the emissions measurement work done for Climate Active does not become worthless. The measurement discipline, the inventory and the evidence file remain useful inputs to the statutory obligation. It is the certification and the claim that go away, not the accounting.
What the assurer does with it
Climate Active certification is not the subject matter of a statutory assurance engagement and the assurer does not test it. Their interest is consistency and claim risk.
They read the entity’s public claims alongside the sustainability report. Where a Climate Active logo or a carbon neutral statement appears on the website, in the annual report or on product packaging, they test whether it is consistent with the disclosed gross emissions and whether it is still accurate. Post-closure, a retained certification claim is a live misleading-conduct exposure, and the assurer will raise it whether or not it sits inside their scope.
They also check that Climate Active boundaries have not leaked into the statutory inventory. Climate Active certification used its own boundary and category rules, and an entity that built its first inventory for certification sometimes carries those inclusions and exclusions across without re-testing them against AASB S2 and the GHG Protocol. That is a boundary finding, and it is a common one in entities with certification history.
Commonly confused with
Mandatory climate reporting under the Corporations Act, which is a statutory obligation with no relationship to Climate Active. Also confused with the ACCU Scheme, which is the credit issuance scheme and continues; only the certification program is closing.
Timing and relief
Consultation closed 18 September 2026. A decision was expected before the end of 2026. Certification is expected to cease on 30 June 2027.
This entry has a shelf life. The programme’s closure was announced but the final arrangements were still moving at the time of writing: which of the announced options was adopted, how existing certifications are treated through to cessation, and whether any transitional arrangement applies to entities certified at the closing date. Re-check before publication and again before 30 June 2027.
Sources
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Review status
Review required
Last reviewed
15 September 2026
Editorial pass, unsigned
Reviewer required
Registered company auditor
Next scheduled review
30 June 2027
expected certification cessation
Part of
Cluster D, Emissions accounting and measurement
49 terms from the head term carbon accounting down to individual Scope 3 categories and the mechanics of factors, boundaries and data quality. The largest cluster in the glossary.
Related terms
The claim Climate Active certified, and what it anchors to now
The mechanism behind a carbon neutral certification
The statutory obligation Climate Active was never a pathway to
Related questions
Do we have to do mandatory climate reporting?
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You must prepare a sustainability report if you already lodge a financial report under Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act and you also meet one of the size, NGER or funds-under-management tests in section 292A. Both gates have to be passed: with no Chapter 2M obligation, section 292A never engages however large you are. Which of the three reporting groups you fall into decides which financial year is your first.
Are directors personally liable for climate disclosures?
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Directors carry their ordinary care and diligence duties in relation to the sustainability report, and they sign a declaration about it. A temporary and partial protection applies to some forward-looking content, but it is narrower than it is usually described and it is closing. This is the one answer that should be read together with your own legal advice.
Where this sits commercially
Carbonhalo keeps the measurement work and retires the claim, which is the only part of a Climate Active file that stops being usable.
Other terms in this cluster
Climate Active