Independent Review of the Australian Carbon Industry Code of Conduct

Overview

The Carbon Market Institute (CMI) is committed to strengthening the integrity and transparency of the Australian carbon market and carbon industry.

The Australian Carbon Industry Code of Conduct (Code) was introduced on 1 July 2018 by the CMI. The Code is one of the world’s earliest voluntary codes for the carbon industry. It is designed to promote and support market integrity, consumer protection and accountability for industry practitioners and service providers across Australia.

It is important that the Code remains relevant and is consistent with best practice. The Code requires that it is updated from time to time to reflect legislative or policy changes, evolving industry concerns and independent reviews of the Code.

This is the second Independent Review of the Code. The Independent Reviewer appointed to lead this review is Finity Consulting. The Finity Consulting team is led by Vicki Mullen. The Independent Review will be conducted in accordance with the Terms of Reference provided, and the relevant governance provisions of the Code.

The current Code text is the second version (v2.0), and came into effect on 1 July 2021: Australian Carbon Industry Code of Conduct v2.0

Media Statement

Terms of Reference

The Terms of Reference for the Independent Review cover the following matters:

Code Requirements and Current Scope;
Administration of the Code, including reporting;
Code Review Panel;
Code Administrator; and
Strategic Review, including consideration of Chubb Review Recommendations and Other Matters.

Terms of Reference

Consultation Paper

The Independent Review will engage with a diverse range of stakeholders. A Consultation Paper is also provided here with guiding questions to assist stakeholders with their feedback.

The Independent Review invites submissions, which can be made in a variety of formats, as outlined below. The Independent Review team may also meet with key stakeholders early in 2024.

Consultation Paper

Engaging with the Review

Submissions

The consultation period was open for ten weeks, with the Administrator receiving submissions until 6pm on Friday 23 of February 2024.

Submissions will be placed on the Administrator’s web site shortly after receipt, unless prior contact has been made concerning material supplied in confidence.

Timeline Submissions

The Review Team

This is the second Independent Review of the Code. The Independent Reviewer appointed to lead this review is Finity Consulting. The Finity Consulting team is led by Vicki Mullen. The Independent Review will be conducted in accordance with the Terms of Reference provided, and the relevant governance provisions of the Code.

Vicki Mullen

Independent Reviewer

Vicki is a lawyer with nearly 30 years’ experience in government and financial services, with a strong focus on public policy, regulatory affairs and stakeholder engagement. She has worked extensively in industry advocacy across the financial services sector. She is an expert on industry self-regulation and industry and professional codes of practice. During her time with the Insurance Council of Australia, she provided secretariat support for the 2012 Independent Review of the General Insurance Code of Practice (GICOP). She was then responsible for the arrangements to establish the independent Code Governance Committee for the GICOP. She is a senior consultant with Finity Consulting, working with clients across the financial services sector, including involvement with Finity’s Climate and Sustainability Practice team.

Olivia Brodhurst

Project Manager

Olivia is an independent, outcomes focused, consultant. She works with organisations to build knowledge and understanding of climate change risks and opportunities and evaluate options for adjusting practices and infrastructure to improve sustainability and resilience. Olivia has experience working within Local Government to develop emissions reduction strategies. She has conducted analysis of carbon credit markets and available credits on the spot market to facilitate offsetting of emissions and enable industry to understand the co-benefits that their investment may also be supporting. Olivia has also worked in natural resource management in Queensland and for the South Australian government.

Rade Musulin

Peer Review

Rade is a leading actuary, with 40 years’ experience in insurance specialising particularly in property pricing, natural perils, reinsurance, agriculture, catastrophe risk modelling, public policy developments and climate risk. Rade was awarded Actuary of the Year by the Actuaries Institute in 2023 for his work on climate risk. He has spent the majority of his career specialising in tropical cyclone risk in the United States, Asia and Australia. He was previously CEO of the FBAlliance, part of the Farm Bureau mutual organisation, providing insurance to the agricultural sector in the US. Rade is a long-serving member of the Climate Risk Task Force of the International Actuarial Association (IAA). He has attended COP 27 and COP 28 as a delegate of the IAA.

Contact

If you would like to get more information about the review, contact or set a meeting directly with the Reviewer, please send us an email to code.administrator@carbonmarketinstitute.org

Consultation Sessions (Workshops)

The Independent Review of the ACI Code of Conduct 2023 – Consultation session 2

This session was led by the Reviewer team (Finity Consulting), who presented the nature and process of the Code’s Independent review. Participants in this session had an opportunity to engage directly with the Reviewer regarding matters raised under the Terms of Reference and Consultation Paper.