Tony Chappel Moves from NSW EPA to Federal Clean Energy Regulator
Tony Chappel, Chief Executive Officer of the NSW Environment Protection Authority since 2022, has been appointed Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the federal Clean Energy Regulator. The move was announced on 6 August 2026 and marks the departure of one of the most operationally active state environment regulators NSW has seen in recent years. Nancy Chang, currently Executive Director of Housing and Planning at the NSW Cabinet Office, steps in as Interim CEO of the NSW EPA while a formal recruitment process is run for Chappel’s permanent replacement.
For environmental consultants, industrial licence holders and legal advisers working across NSW contaminated land and pollution licensing matters, this is not simply a personnel change worth a passing mention. Chappel’s four-year tenure reshaped how the NSW EPA treats greenhouse gas emissions within its core regulatory toolkit, embedding climate obligations directly into Environment Protection Licences and pushing polluter-pays reforms through the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997. His shift to the Clean Energy Regulator, the body responsible for administering the Safeguard Mechanism, the Australian Carbon Credit Unit Scheme and the Guarantee of Origin scheme, effectively moves that regulatory mindset from state licensing to national emissions compliance.
The practical question for developers, site owners and their advisers is whether the enforcement posture Chappel built at state level now migrates into federal Safeguard Mechanism administration. Given his direct hand in strengthening NSW’s polluter-pays enforcement powers, there is reasonable basis to expect a similarly firm compliance stance applied to the roughly 200 or so facilities currently captured under the Safeguard Mechanism nationally.
Chappel’s NSW EPA Legacy and the Clean Energy Regulator’s Remit
During his time leading the NSW EPA, Chappel oversaw release of the agency’s Climate Change Policy and Action Plan and the NSW Guide for Large Emitters, both of which set expectations for how large industrial operators demonstrate emissions reduction pathways as a condition of ongoing licensing. These documents work alongside the Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act 2023 (NSW), which formally establishes the state’s net-zero targets and gives statutory weight to treating greenhouse gas emissions as an environmental hazard subject to regulatory oversight, not merely a voluntary reporting exercise.
Chappel also directed landmark amendments to the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW), expanding the EPA’s polluter-pays enforcement powers. These amendments strengthen the regulator’s ability to pursue cost recovery and enforcement action against operators responsible for pollution incidents, shifting more of the financial burden of environmental harm onto the party causing it rather than the public purse. Alongside this, his tenure delivered Australia’s first battery product stewardship initiative, addressing end-of-life management of an increasingly significant waste stream as battery storage and electric vehicle uptake accelerates.
At the federal level, the Clean Energy Regulator operates under the Clean Energy Regulator Act 2011 (Cth) and the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (Cth). Its remit includes administering the Safeguard Mechanism, which sets emissions baselines for Australia’s largest industrial facilities and requires those exceeding baseline thresholds to offset excess emissions through Australian Carbon Credit Units or other eligible mechanisms. The regulator is also responsible for integrity assurance across the ACCU Scheme, which has faced sustained scrutiny over methodology credibility and additionality, and for administering the Guarantee of Origin scheme covering renewable hydrogen and other low-emissions products.
Nancy Chang’s appointment as Interim CEO brings a planning and housing background rather than a pollution licensing or environmental science background, which is a notable departure from the technical profile typical of recent NSW EPA leadership. The NSW government has confirmed a formal recruitment process for the permanent CEO position will proceed, though no timeline for appointment has been specified in the current announcement.
Implications for NSW EPL Holders and Safeguard Mechanism Facilities
This transition matters for anyone working across NSW Environment Protection Licences because the climate-related conditions embedded during Chappel’s tenure are not going anywhere with his departure. Operators holding EPLs that include Scope 1 and Scope 2 monitoring requirements or site-specific decarbonisation commitments should not assume a change in leadership signals a softer compliance environment. The statutory basis for these obligations sits in the Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act 2023 and the amended POEO Act, both of which remain in force regardless of who occupies the CEO chair.
The federal dimension is arguably more consequential for national industrial operators. Facilities subject to the Safeguard Mechanism under the NGER Act now have a CEO at the Clean Energy Regulator with direct, recent experience translating climate policy into licence-level enforcement action. This is a different profile to the more compliance-administration approach the CER has historically taken, and it raises the prospect of a more site-specific, evidence-based approach to Safeguard Mechanism compliance reviews, closer in character to how NSW EPA audits EPL holders than how the CER has traditionally approached national emissions reporting.
For contaminated land and environmental due diligence practitioners specifically, the read-across is less about direct regulatory change and more about signalling. Where climate risk and emissions liability are increasingly assessed alongside traditional contamination risk in transaction due diligence, having a former state pollution regulator now leading national carbon market integrity oversight suggests emissions data quality, offset credibility and Safeguard compliance history will attract closer scrutiny in assessments of industrial assets. Advisers should factor this into due diligence scoping for transactions involving Safeguard-covered facilities and NSW licence holders alike.
References and related sources
- Primary source: www.epa.nsw.gov.au
- nsw.gov.au
- wastemanagementreview.com.au
- minterellison.com
- minterellison.com
- NSW EPA
How iEnvi can help
iEnvi provides specialist consulting services relevant to this topic. Our team includes CEnvP Site Contamination Specialists with experience across contaminated land, groundwater, remediation, ecology, and regulatory compliance.
- iEnvi due diligence services
- iEnvi remediation and validation services
- iEnvi expert services and independent review services
This is an iEnvi Machete news summary. Prepared by iEnvi to summarise the source article for contaminated land, groundwater, remediation, approvals and site risk professionals.
Published: 08 Aug 2026
Need advice on this topic? Speak to an iEnvi expert at info@ienvi.com.au or 1300 043 684, or contact us online.
Need advice on this issue? iEnvi provides practical, senior-led environmental consulting across contaminated land, remediation, ecology and environmental risk.
Team credentials Contaminated land services Remediation services Groundwater services Talk to iEnvi