ACCU

Initially carbon abatement meant the reduction of the amount of carbon emitted when coal fuels were burnt.  This was planned to be done by using technology to reduce emissions, as in carbon capture and storage.

But in the current discussions carbon abatement is the purchasing of Australian Carbon Credit Units to offset the production of greenhouse gases in a planned project.  One ACCU represents the avoidance or removal of one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2-e).  The system was established in 2001 and the first ACCU was issued on 14 March 2019 to a soil carbon project.  The ACCUs are put up for auction by the government.  Mostly at the moment they are to do with planting new vegetation or repurposing existing emissions such as the methane gases bubbling up from landfill.  It does mean that some greenhouse emitting projects can still go ahead with the purchase of ACCUs but the system could ease the transition into the new carbon-free energy production.