BHP, airlines and clean energy start-ups will be waiting longer to earn carbon credits for things like sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen and the storing of carbon in mine wastes, after the Albanese government scrapped months of taxpayer-funded work into new eligibility criteria.

Professor Ian Chubb’s independent review of Australia’s carbon credit scheme had already delayed publication of the new eligibility criteria by four months, and Friday’s move comes despite the Climate Change Authority calling in April for some of those carbon removal technologies to be “prioritised” and receive “accelerated” regulatory support.