Australian firms will have to collect data on their carbon emissions from later this year, under new reporting rules being considered by the government.

The proposals featured in a discussion paper published this week and would require firms to record figures on their carbon emissions from 1 July this year. They would then have to submit annual carbon reports in October next year.

"A new streamlined reporting system will be good news for business," the Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, told the Sydney Morning Herald. " Moving to a single system will cut duplication in reporting and reduce the cost burden currently imposed by the patchwork of separate greenhouse and energy programs."

The Rudd government said the carbon reports would underpin its plans for a cap-and-trade scheme, which it pledged to introduce when it was elected last year.

Environmentalists, however, expressed disappointment at the plans arguing the reporting regulations should be stricter.

Under the proposals currently being considered, firms would be exempted from releasing emissions data if they can demonstrate such information is commercially sensitive, while there is also the possibility they will be allowed to point to a range of figures rather than their exact emissions level.