Australia's GHG Output Up 2% During 2nd Quarter As Gov. Claims "Meeting & Beating" Climate Targets
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions rose in the June quarter by about 2% as pollution from the electricity sector and transport increased. Figures released on Tuesday by the Morrison government showed that on a year to year basis, emissions for the 12 months to last June totalled 498.9m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. That tally was down 2.1%, or 10.8m tonnes compared with the same period a year earlier.
However, on a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, emissions increased to 127m tonnes, or just over 2%, from the 124.4m tonnes reported in the March quarter. For the year to March, emissions totalled 494.2m tonnes, underscoring the pickup in pollution in the more recent quarter.
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The government has made much of Australia “meeting and beating” climate targets. However, the latest statistics show mostly emissions are not in decline despite its pledge ahead of the Glasgow climate summit that the country would hit net zero by 2050. “Nothing’s happening except for the electricity sector,” said Hugh Saddler, an honorary associate professor at the Australian National University. Once Covid curbs on the economy eased, such as during the current quarter, emission sources such as from transport will show a rise, he predicted.
Falling costs for new wind and solar farms are pushing coal and gas out of electricity generation, as well as pushing down power prices. In seasonally adjusted terms, though, emissions for that sector rose from 39.7m tonnes the March quarter to 41.6m in the June one. Most other sectors were steady, with pollution from transport adding almost 1m tonnes in the June quarter.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/30/emissions-rise-2-in-australia-amid-increased-pollution-from-electricity-and-transport