RMS PORT HEDLAND

RMS PORT HEDLAND is a facility operated by RIVET MINING SERVICES PTY LTD in WA. Like all covered facilities, industrial operations generate significant emissions. Under Australia's Safeguard Mechanism, RMS PORT HEDLAND must keep its annual emissions below a stepping-down baseline — or purchase carbon credits to cover any overage.

In 2017–18, RMS PORT HEDLAND reported emissions of 101 kt against a baseline obligation of 100 kt — an overage of 646 t. The facility covered the 646 t overage by purchasing 646 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 RMS PORT HEDLAND specifically.