Greenhouse gas emissions in Australia and NSW

Australia produces around 1.8% of total world greenhouse gas emissions. This does not seem like a lot, but for the number of people we have in Australia it works out to be around 28 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per person per year,¹ making Australia among the highest emitters for its population in the world.

Our per person emissions are very high because:

• we use coal to produce most of our electricity;
• we rely on greenhouse gas emitting modes of transport;
• our major overseas export goods include agricultural products, meaning we have large numbers of methane-emitting sheep and cattle to supply Australian animal products to the rest of the world.

Different types of emissions. From left: Car exhaust emissions, methane emissions from cattle, and coal-fired power station emissions.

 

In 2007, Australia's total emissions were over 597 million tonnes (Mt) (also called megatonnes), of which 163 Mt (27%) were produced by NSW.²

 

Data source: State and Territory Greenhouse Inventories 2007, Australia's National Greenhouse Accounts, DCC, Canberra.

The latest...

"In the twelve months to June 2009, Australia’s emissions were an estimated 544 Mt CO2-e (million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), a decrease of 1.2 per cent compared with the preceding twelve months.  The negative growth is considered temporary and is mostly attributable to relatively low emissions in the March and June quarters in key sectors, mainly reflecting the economic slowdown". Department of Climate Change http://www.climatechange.gov.au/climate-change/emissions.aspx

The situation in NSW

In NSW, the energy sector, which includes stationary energy, transport, and fugitive emissions from fuels, makes the largest contribution to NSW greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for a combined 72% of emissions in 2007 (117 Mt).

• Coal-fired electricity generation accounted for 68% of the emissions from the energy sector.
• Transport and agriculture accounted for 13% (21.1 Mt) and 11% (17.5 Mt) respectively, of the total 2007 emissions from NSW.²

 

 

Table 1. Major sources of emissions in NSW

Sector	Major contributor	Contribution to national emissions(%)2
Stationary energy	Coal-fired electricity generation	27.2
Transport	Road transport	26.8
Fugitive	Coal mine methane	44.3
Industrial processes	Iron and steel production	38.3
Agriculture	Cattle and sheep enteric fermentation	19.9
Land use/ Land use change / Forestry	Land clearing	19.8
Waste	Landfill methane	36.2

 

 

Return to What is climate change?.

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¹Department of Climate Change, 'Tracking to the Kyoto Target 2007: Australia's greenhouse emissions trends 1990 to 2008-2012 and 2020', Canberra, 2008.

² Australian Greenhouse Emissions Information Systems (AGEIS), 2009. http://ageis.climatechange.gov.au