---
title: "Memo: legal right to carry out an ACCU Scheme project"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/climate-esg-and-sustainability-reporting/carbon-project-legal-right-memo"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a48-carbon-project-legal-right-memo"
area_id: "A48"
kind: "memo"
ai_level: "red"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A48-D20261018-4"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-22"
---

# Memo: legal right to carry out an ACCU Scheme project

> Internal memo testing whether the proponent has the legal right to carry out an Australian carbon credit unit project, in the sense the Clean Energy Regulator describes, before registration.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/climate-esg-and-sustainability-reporting/carbon-project-legal-right-memo  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-22

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

- Kind: Memo. An internal or advice memo.
- Practice area: [Climate, ESG & Sustainability Reporting](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/climate-esg-and-sustainability-reporting.md)
- Jurisdictions: Australia, Commonwealth
- AI level: Red. You write the text. The tool writes nothing into the document. Where permitted, it may check, clarify or collect data, and anything it checks or collects is verified.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-22
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-22 against the authority it cites, for Australia and Commonwealth.

## When to use it

Use before an application to register a project, before a variation, and when an offsets report is being prepared. The Regulator requires legal right to be shown at each of those points.

## Used for these tasks

- [Confirm the proponent’s legal right to run a carbon project](https://ailawframework.com/practice/climate-esg-and-sustainability-reporting.md#A48-D20261018-4)

## How AI may be used

The lawyer decides whether legal right is held. AI may index contracts, leases and title searches and leave the conclusion blank.

**AI may:**

- List the agreements on the file, their dates, the parties and the land they mention
- Note whether a native title search has been done and attach the file name of the result
- Set out the two limbs the Regulator uses, with a blank for the lawyer

**AI must not:**

- Must not state that the proponent has, or does not have, the legal right
- Must not describe the effect of a native title claim or an Indigenous land use agreement
- Must not draft the declaration or the evidence statement that goes to the Regulator

**The lawyer checks:**

- Both limbs are addressed: the right to carry out the project activities on the sites, and the lawful and exclusive right to receive the units
- The evidence is a written agreement, and the file records the steps taken, the advice received and who was consulted, as the Regulator asks
- The term of the right covers the project life the Regulator describes for this method (usually 7 years for emissions avoidance and 25 years for sequestration)
- Native title has been checked where the project is area-based, including by the National Native Title Tribunal map, and the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 and the Native Title Act 1993 have been read on the points that arise

## Authorities

- [Clean Energy Regulator, Legal right and native title (right to do the activities and the exclusive right to the units; evidence in writing; registration, variation and offsets reports; native title)](https://cer.gov.au/schemes/australian-carbon-credit-unit-scheme/how-to-participate-accu-scheme/plan-your-project/legal-right-and-native-title)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/climate-esg-and-sustainability-reporting/carbon-project-legal-right-memo and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*