The End of Climate Active
Read on to learn more about what the closure of the Climate Active program means for voluntary Climate Action across Australia.
Key takeaways
Climate Active’s proposed closure on 30 June 2027 marks a major shift in Australia’s voluntary climate landscape, retiring a long‑standing certification pathway and requiring businesses to rethink how they measure, report, and communicate climate progress. Certified organisations will need to transition away from Climate Active’s frameworks, establish new internal systems for annual emissions reporting, and adopt globally recognised standards such as Science‑Based Targets to maintain credibility. Voluntary climate action is moving beyond carbon neutral badges toward deeper governance, audit‑ready data, credible transition plans, and integrated decarbonisation strategies. The future of climate leadership in Australia will be defined by transparency, financial integration, and whole‑of‑business transformation.
The Closure of Climate Active: What It Means for Australian Businesses — And the Future of Voluntary Climate Action in Australia
Australia’s Climate Active program — once the country’s flagship voluntary carbon‑neutral certification scheme, is coming to an end. The Australian Government has confirmed its proposal to cease certification on 30 June 2027, marking a significant shift in how organisations demonstrate climate ambition and manage public climate claims.
For many businesses, this announcement lands at a complex moment: mandatory climate reporting is accelerating, investor expectations are rising, and scrutiny of environmental claims has never been higher. The closure of Climate Active removes a familiar anchor point — and raises important questions about what comes next.
This blog unpacks:
What Climate Active has announced
The challenge this presents for currently certified organisations
What this means for voluntary climate action in Australia
What Climate Active Has Announced
The Participant Information Guide released in July 2026 summarises how the program will wind down. Key points include:
Certification ends 30 June 2027 - Climate Active’s carbon‑neutral certification is proposed to end on 30 June 2027, with the program continuing through a consultation and transition period.
Participants may remain certified until the end date - Organisations can stay certified until 30 June 2027, provided they continue to meet reporting obligations, including offset purchasing and final reporting.
Certification fees waived - All annual certification fees for FY26–27 are waived.
Licence Agreements will be terminated - All Licence Agreements will end by 30 June 2027 (or 31 December 2026 for calendar‑year reporters unless extended).
Final reporting required - Participants must submit full or partial final reports to substantiate past carbon‑neutral claims and avoid misleading conduct under ACCC guidance.
Registered consultant program will close - The register of consultants and associated trademarks will be terminated on 31 October 2027.
This is not a partial pause or a restructure — it is a full sunset of the certification pathway.
2. The Challenge for Currently Certified Organisations
The closure of Climate Active presents several practical and strategic challenges for organisations that have used the program as the basis of their climate reporting and decarbonisation efforts to date. For many businesses, Climate Active has been the most visible way to demonstrate voluntary climate action in Australia. Its removal leaves a gap, whereby companies must rethink how they communicate climate progress and substantiate their climate-related emissions reduction efforts.
Certified businesses will need to refine new internal processes and systems for reporting and public disclosure. Evaluating other climate reporting and decarbonisation standards will be necessary to ensure future climate-related workstreams follow robust, independent, and globally recognised standards and guidelines.
In lieu of having access to Climate Active’s annual reporting templates (pending the outcome of current consultation on whether Climate Active will continue making these available), businesses will need to decide how they will continue to measure their emissions on an annual basis — such as working directly with carbon accounting specialists such as Rewild Agency.
3. What This Means for Voluntary Climate Action in Australia
In our view, the closure of Climate Active is not a retreat from climate accountability — it’s a sign of a maturing system and moving away from a standard that was no longer interoperable to emerging mandatory climate disclosure standards.
Voluntary action is shifting from certification to strategy
In the early 2010’s, voluntary “carbon neutral” certification was a meaningful signal of leadership. Today, investors, regulators, and markets expect less of these sorts of claims and instead expect more:
Audited emissions data
Credible transition plans
Capital allocation aligned with decarbonisation
Transparent climate‑related risks and opportunities
Voluntary climate action is no longer about badges, it’s about governance, investment, and whole-of-business transformation.
Offsets will play a different role
While Climate Active’s model relied heavily on offsets and this is a key area where the program had been criticised. We are of the view the high-quality carbon removal and sequestration offsets still remain a critical component of tackling the climate crisis, given we already have unsafe levels of carbon in the atmosphere. Having an annual commitment to purchase carbon offsets can also act as an important financial lever for decarbonisation. Putting a price on carbon is one of the most powerful ways for the corporate sector to take better accountability of their emissions and we therefore hope businesses will continue to prioritise supporting high-integrity carbon removal projects alongside ambitious and practical decarbonisation efforts.
The market will diversify
With Climate Active gone, organisations will need to ensure they still follow credible climate-related standards and guidelines. Our team work extensively in helping clients to achieve validated Science-based Targets (SBTs) via the SBTi corporate, SME, and sector-specific standards — and we will be recommending all businesses consider following these standards as the basis for their target-setting.
A new era of climate leadership
Voluntary climate action in Australia is entering a new phase: one defined by integration into financial systems, not sustainability silos. The organisations that thrive will be those that:
Invest in emissions data management and reporting systems (either with sustainability advisors like us, via internal or external software solutions or a hybrid combination of all three).
Build audit‑ready methodologies.
Develop and articulate credible transition plans — and ideally, formal SBTs.
Communicate climate progress with clarity and integrity
Climate Active helped many organisations take their first steps. Its closure signals that those steps must now evolve into something deeper, more strategic, and more accountable.
Our Final Thoughts
The end of Climate Active is a significant moment for Australian climate leadership. It removes a familiar pathway — but it also creates space for more robust, integrated, and future‑focused approaches to climate action.
For organisations willing to adapt, this is not a setback. It’s an opportunity to build climate strategies that are more credible, more resilient, and more aligned with Australia’s emerging regulatory landscape.
Need help in defining what’s next?
Our team are experts in navigating the complexities of voluntary climate action, reporting, and decarbonisation. Reach out to our friendly team via hello@rewild.agency to learn how we can support your business.
