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 June quarter of 2021
- emissions from the National Electricity Market up to the September quarter of 2021
Quarterly emissions
This interactive graph shows emissions by quarter from June 2000 to June 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 the year to June 1990 to the year to June 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 each sector’s contribution to total emissions has changed over time.
Source: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
Emissions per capita and 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 June 2021 are estimated to be 498.9 Mt CO₂-e. This is 2.1%
(10.8 Mt CO₂-e) less than the previous year.
This decline reflects events and activities in several sectors, including:
- ongoing reductions in emissions from electricity (down 4.5%)
- lower fugitive emissions (down 8.7%) due to reduced gas flaring and a decline in coal production
- lower transport emissions (down 1.9%), reflecting the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions
- lower emissions from stationary energy (down 1.4%), driven by decreases coal mining, and oil and gas extraction
- increased emissions from agriculture (up 4.9%) due to the continuing recovery from recent drought. This increase partially offsets the decreases in other sectors.
In the year to June 2021, emissions per capita and the emissions intensity of the economy were at their lowest levels in 31 years. Emissions per capita were 47.7% lower than in 1990, while the emissions intensity of the economy was 67% lower than in 1990.
National emissions levels for the June quarter 2021 increased 0.4% (0.5 Mt CO₂-e) from the previous quarter in trend terms. The trend result for the June quarter reflects small increases across all sectors of the inventory except for the electricity sector, which was 0.2% lower than the March quarter 2021.
Australia’s emissions have declined 22.8% since their peak in the year to June 2007. Emissions in the year to June 2021 were 20.4% below emissions in the year to June 2005 (the baseline year for Australia’s 2030 target under the Paris Agreement).
National emissions are preliminarily estimated at 500 Mt CO₂-e in the year to September 2021, a decrease of 0.7% on the previous year. National emissions for the September quarter 2021 are preliminarily estimated at 125 Mt CO₂-e in trend terms, a decrease of 0.5% on the previous quarter.
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: June 2021 [PDF 3.96 MB]
Quarterly Update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: June 2021 [DOCX 6.15 MB]
Download the data
Contact us
Email nationalgreenhouseaccounts@industry.gov.au
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