There Further, Program Design

ANAO Report No.11 2014–15 The Award of Grants under the Clean Technology Program 67 Program Management review each finalised project and compares the KPIs at the post‐project stage with that approved by the Committee.

2.67 As

outlined at paragraph 1.16, the audit scope did not include the department’s measurement and verification regime for completed projects. Program performance indicator

2.68 The

key performance indicator KPI reported in the department’s 2012–13 Portfolio Budget Statements was the ‘proportion of companies assisted under the Clean Technology Investment Programs reporting projects with a minimum five per cent reduction in carbon intensity’. In July 2014, the department advised ANAO that this target:  was developed in consultation with the then Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism;  was selected because it aligned with the then Government’s plans to reduce carbon pollution by five per cent from 2000 levels by 2020; and  reflected the outcomes of the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Program.

2.69 This

KPI was appropriate in the context of the primary merit criterion, which was ‘the extent of the reduction in carbon emissions intensity, including through improvements in energy efficiency arising, from the project’. However, it was not consistent with the then Government’s broader policy objective to reduce carbon pollution by five per cent from 2000 levels by 2020. Specifically, total carbon emissions had increased by 13.2 per cent from 2000 to 2010, as demonstrated by Figure 2.4, but the starting point for calculating the reduction in carbon emissions under the funding agreements was not based on 2000 levels. As a consequence of that change, a reduction of 16 per cent from 2010 emissions levels would have been required to be consistent with the broader policy target set by the then Government. ANAO Report No.11 2014–15 The Award of Grants under the Clean Technology Program 68 Figure 2.4: Total carbon emissions produced in Australia, 2000–2010 Source: The World Bank.

2.70 After

ANAO pointed out that the program’s KPI was not consistent with the then Government’s broader policy objective to reduce carbon pollution by five per cent from 2000 levels by 2020, the department advised ANAO in October 2014 that: It was never the intent to directly link the program to the Governmentʹs target. Rather, the program indirectly supported the achievement of the Government ʹs policy objectives through helping manufacturers invest in low pollution technologies.

2.71 In