Home / Safeguard / MWB01 Mt Whaleback Mine - MNG Facility
WA · Safeguard Mechanism 2018–19

MWB01 Mt Whaleback Mine - MNG Facility

BHP BILLITON IRON ORE PTY. LTD.
📍 WA

The Safeguard Mechanism requires Australia's largest industrial facilities to keep net emissions under a legislated, stepping-down baseline — or offset the difference with carbon credits.

Not covered since 2018–19 — this facility's reported emissions have not reached the Safeguard Mechanism's 100,000t threshold since then. Figures below are its last reported year.
MWB01 Mt Whaleback Mine - MNG Facility reported emissions +5 kt above its baseline in 2018–19. The 5 kt overage was covered by purchasing ACCUs.
Source: Clean Energy Regulator · data as at 25 Oct 2026
258 kt
2018–19 emissions CER
254 kt
net baseline obligation CER
+5 kt
vs baseline Zerra calc.
4,724
ACCUs surrendered CER
Emissions history

Reported emissions vs baseline, 2016–17 to 2018–19

Red bars indicate emissions above baseline — covered by carbon credit purchases
0t72kt145kt217kt289kt16–1717–1818–19 Emissions Overage Baseline
Annual compliance record

Credit surrenders — MWB01 Mt Whaleback Mine - MNG Facility

YearEmissionsBaseline Gap†ACCUsSMCsCompliance†
18–19 258 kt 254 kt +5 kt 4,724 — ACCU buyer
17–18 217 kt 254 kt -37 kt — — Under baseline
16–17 204 kt 254 kt -50 kt — — Under baseline

Emissions, baseline, ACCUs and SMCs are reported directly by CER. †Gap and compliance category are calculated by Zerra from those figures.

Plain English

What this means

MWB01 Mt Whaleback Mine - MNG Facility is a facility operated by BHP BILLITON IRON ORE PTY. LTD. in WA. Like all covered facilities, industrial operations generate significant emissions. Under Australia's Safeguard Mechanism, MWB01 Mt Whaleback Mine - MNG Facility must keep its annual emissions below a stepping-down baseline — or purchase carbon credits to cover any overage.

In 2018–19, MWB01 Mt Whaleback Mine - MNG Facility reported emissions of 258 kt against a baseline obligation of 254 kt — an overage of 5 kt. The facility covered the 5 kt overage by purchasing 4,724 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) — credits generated by carbon abatement projects elsewhere in Australia such as soil carbon farming, avoided land clearing, and landfill gas capture.

Purchasing credits is legal and intended by the Safeguard Mechanism's design — the policy deliberately allows facilities to choose between cutting on-site emissions or funding abatement elsewhere in the economy. Whether credit purchases represent genuine long-term decarbonisation depends on whether the facility's absolute emissions are trending down over time. The chart above shows the trajectory since reporting began. This question applies to all covered facilities under the Safeguard Mechanism, not MWB01 Mt Whaleback Mine - MNG Facility specifically.

Related facilities

Related facilities — Safeguard Mechanism 2018–19

No peer data available.

Also operated by BHP BILLITON IRON ORE PTY. LTD.
Other WA facilities
← All Safeguard facilities
Source: Clean Energy Regulator — Safeguard Mechanism data · All figures in tCO₂-e · Data updated annually on CER release
All data sourced from the Clean Energy Regulator (Australian Government). Zerra is an independent data platform and is not affiliated with any listed facility or operator.