Australia will hold its second auction under the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) on Nov. 4-5, the Clean Energy Regulator announced Wednesday.

The second auction will come more than six months after the first one, in which the government bought 47.3 million tonnes of CO2e reductions for A$660 million ($486 mln).

“We are making this announcement today as the volume of projects registered in July indicates sufficient market readiness for a second auction,” Chloe Munro, chair of the Regulator, said in a statement.

“With a growing number of methods available and a large number of new project registrations, we are confident the second auction will attract strong competition.”

The A$2.55 billion fund is Australia’s main tool to meet its 2020 target of cutting GHG emissions to 5% below 2000 levels, and will remain the chief climate instrument in the 2020s if the current government stays in office.

In the ERF reverse auctions, project developers offer to cut future emissions at a certain cost per tonne, and the government buys the cheapest ones. In the first auction the average price paid was A$13.95 per tonne.

A total of 73 new projects registered with the regulator for ERF eligibility in the first three weeks of July, and the agency said more projects are likely to sign up.

“We understand that some potential participants will only apply to register their projects after an auction date has been announced. Our message for those that haven’t yet prepared their applications is do not leave it until the last minute,” Munro said.

Project owners have until Sep. 18 to register their projects if they want to participate in the second auction.

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com

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