Australia’s carbon credit scheme was used to offset a trip by the Prime Minister to the United Kingdom, Senate estimates has been told.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet purchased $20,000 worth of carbon credits to make Mr Morrison’s trip to the G7 Leader’s Summit in Cornwall carbon neutral.

Department official Simon Duggan told senators the credits were purchased at the request of the UK government.

“The letter of invitation made it clear that (Prime Minister Boris Johnson) would like to run a net-zero carbon G7 and asked leaders that were invited to purchase offsets if necessary in order to offset the carbon impact of the travel,” Mr Duggan said.

One of the goals of the 2021 G7 Summit was to bring world leaders together to tackle climate change and preserve the planet’s biodiversity.

Have you ever paid to offset your emissions for a flight? You should watch this video.@RichieMerzian, Director, and @pollyjhemming, Advisor, Climate & Energy Program, unpack CCS Carbon Credits.

Watch the full episode on Youtube!https://t.co/Sq75zoRCZV pic.twitter.com/9lYs9Ewv71

— Australia Institute (@TheAusInstitute) April 3, 2022

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said the carbon offset request was made to all G7 attendees, not just the Australian government.

But Labor Senator Tim Ayres said that while other governments turned up with a serious set of propositions on climate change, “we turned up with $20,000 worth of carbon credit”.

The Clean Energy Regulator last week announced it would review claims Australia’s carbon credit scheme is a sham and a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Recently published academic papers found a lack of integrity in the Emission Reduction Fund, which the regulator runs.

-AAP