Australia's emissions
Australia publishes comprehensive reports on greenhouse gas emissions in the National Greenhouse Accounts.
This data is used to meet Australia's reporting commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and track progress against Australia's target under the Kyoto Protocol as well as inform policy makers and the public.
The National Greenhouse Accounts
The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency publishes Australia's National Greenhouse Accounts, which outline Australia's greenhouse gas emissions as a nation, by state and by industry.
The National Greenhouse Accounts comprise the:
Search Australia's National Greenhouse Accounts online.
The Australian Greenhouse Emissions Information System (AGEIS) provides emission results for 1990 to 2009.
The latest data
Change in National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: September quarter 2011
| Emissions growth rate | Amount (%) |
|---|
| Quarterly change - trend |
0.5 |
| Quarterly change - seasonally adjusted |
-0.3 |
| Annual change over year to September quarter |
-1.0 |
Emissions increased in the September quarter 2011, with trend emissions rising by 0.5% (Figure 1). This is the third consecutive quarter of positive trend growth.
The trend increase for the quarter was largely driven by increases in emissions from transport as a result of increased consumption of liquid fuels and stationary energy excluding electricity due to increased production in some manufacturing sectors.
These increases were largely offset by a decrease in emissions from the electricity sector. Unseasonably weak emissions growth in the electricity sector contributed to the 0.3% decrease in seasonally adjusted emissions in the September 2011 quarter.
The National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, disaggregated by sector for the year to the September quarter for 2010 and 2011, is presented in Table 1. This table includes estimates for Kyoto Protocol Article 3.3 LULUCF activities.
Annual emissions, excluding LULUCF, for the year to September 2011 are estimated to be 539.8 Mt CO2–e. This represents a decrease of 1.0% compared to the year to September 2010. This was caused by a significant drop in electricity, which is the largest sectoral source of emissions in the national inventory.
Table 1: National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, annual net emissions by sector, year to September
| Sector | Annual net emissions (Mt CO2-e) | Change |
|---|
| Year to September 2010 | Year to September 2011 |
|---|
| Energy - Electricity |
200.7 |
193.0 |
-3.8% |
| Energy - Stationary energy excluding electricity |
95.4 |
97.3 |
2.0% |
| Energy - Transport |
83.2 |
86.8 |
4.4% |
| Energy - Fugitive emissions |
40.5 |
37.5 |
-7.6% |
| Industrial processes |
32.2 |
32.9 |
2.0% |
| Agriculture |
79.4 |
78.2 |
-1.6% |
| Waste |
14.1 |
14.2 |
0.7% |
| National Inventory (excluding LULUCF) |
545.5 |
539.8 |
-1.0% |
| LULUCF - Deforestation1,2 |
44.0 |
45.5 |
3.4% |
| LULUCF - Afforestation and reforestation1 |
-25.7 |
-25.7 |
0.1% |
| Total (including LULUCF) |
563.8 |
559.6 |
-0.7% |
- The estimates for deforestation and afforestation and reforestation are subject to a greater level of uncertainty than the other sectors.
- Preliminary DCCEE estimates for deforestation will be revised in light of updated model development for the DCCEE report Australia's Emissions Projections, to be released in early 2012.
Related information
What the rest of the world is doing
Other developed countries are also required to produce annual greenhouse gas inventories.