The Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory reports on the latest greenhouse gas emissions.
This update provides estimates of:
- national emissions up to the December quarter of 2021
- emissions from the National Electricity Market up to the March quarter 2022.
Quarterly emissions
This interactive graph shows emissions by quarter from December 2000 to December 2021.
You can select data by sector. Mouse over and click to view actual emissions or trends for any quarter.
Source: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
Annual emissions data
This interactive graph shows annual emissions by year from December 1990 to December 2021.
You can select data by sector, and see changes in emissions over several years. Mouse over and click to view emissions for any year.
Source: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
Emissions by gas
This interactive graph shows quarterly emissions by gas from 2000 to 2021.
Source: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
Emissions by sector
This interactive graph shows annual emissions by sector from 1990 to 2021.
You can select data by year to see how sectoral contributions to total emissions have changed over time.
Source: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
Emissions per capita and emissions per GDP
This interactive graph shows emissions per capita and emissions per dollar of real GDP. Mouse over and click to view emissions for any year.
Source: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
Data insights
Emissions for the year to December 2021 are estimated to be 488.0 Mt CO₂-e, up 0.8% or 4.1 Mt CO₂-e on the previous year. This change in emissions reflects the balance of events and activities in several sectors:
- Ongoing reductions in emissions from electricity (down 4.2%; 7.0 Mt CO₂-e)
- Increased transport emissions (up 4.0%; 3.5 Mt CO₂-e) reflecting a continuing recovery from the impacts of COVID restrictions on movement
- Increased emissions from stationary energy (excluding electricity) (up 3.3%; 3.3 Mt CO₂-e) driven primarily by an increase in fuel combustion in the manufacturing sector
- Increased emissions from agriculture (up 4.2%; 3.1 Mt CO₂-e) due to the continuing recovery from drought
- Increased fugitive emissions (up 1.8%; 0.9 Mt CO₂-e), resulting from increased venting and flaring in oil and gas.
Emissions in the year to December 2021 were 21.4% below emissions in the year to June 2005.
On a quarterly basis, national emission levels for the December quarter 2021 increased 0.1% or 0.1 Mt CO₂-e on the previous quarter in trend terms. The trend result for the December quarter 2021 reflects decreases across the electricity, transport and Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry sectors. These decreases were offset by increases across the stationary energy, fugitive emissions, industrial processes, waste and agriculture sectors.
In the year to December 2021, the emissions intensity of the economy was at its lowest level in 32 years, 68.5% below 1990 levels. Emissions per capita were 48.9% below 1990 levels, but increased slightly in the year to December 2021, driven by lower than usual population growth as a result of COVID restrictions on movement throughout 2021.
National emissions are preliminarily estimated to be 489 Mt CO₂-e in the year to March 2022, an increase of 2.0% on the previous year. On a quarterly basis, national emissions are preliminarily estimated to be 122 Mt CO₂-e, a decrease of 0.4% on the previous quarter in trend terms.
Understanding the data
We compiled this report in line with emissions estimation rules countries adopted under the Paris Agreement.
Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Accounts take into account the latest scientific evidence. We fulfil our international treaty commitments by submitting annual National Inventory Reports to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). A UNFCCC expert team reviews them each year for transparency, accuracy, completeness, comparability and consistency.
Download the full report
Quarterly Update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: December 2021 [PDF 2.49 MB]
Quarterly Update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: December 2021 [DOCX 6.2 MB]
Download the data
Contact us
Email nationalgreenhouseaccounts@industry.gov.au
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