August 2022
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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 March quarter of 2022
- preliminary national emissions up to the June quarter of 2022.
Data insights
Emissions for the year to March 2022 are estimated to be 487.1 Mt CO2-e, up 1.5% or 7.4 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 3.1%; 5.0 Mt CO2-e);
- Increased transport emissions (up 5.4%; 4.6 Mt CO2-e) reflecting a continuing recovery from the impacts of COVID restrictions on movement;
- Increased emissions from stationary energy (excluding electricity) (up 3.7%; 3.7 Mt CO2-e) driven primarily by an increase in fuel combustion in the manufacturing sector;
- Increased emissions from agriculture (up 4.4%; 3.3 Mt CO2-e) due to continued easing of drought conditions; and
- Increased fugitive emissions (up 1.2%; 0.6 Mt CO2-e), reflecting increased venting and flaring in gas.
Emissions in the year to March 2022 were 21.6% below emissions in the year to June 2005 (the baseline year for Australia’s 2030 target under the Paris Agreement ).
On a quarterly basis, national emission levels for the March quarter 2022 decreased 0.7% or 0.9 Mt CO2-e on the previous quarter in trend terms. The trend result for the March quarter 2022 reflects decreases across the electricity, stationary energy (excluding electricity), fugitive emissions, industrial processes, waste and Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sectors. These decreases were partially offset by increases across the transport and agriculture sectors.
In the year to March 2022, the emissions intensity of the economy was at its lowest level in 32 years, 68.9% below 1990 levels. Emissions per capita were lower than 1990 by 49.3%, but increased slightly in the year to March 2022, driven by lower than usual population growth as a result of COVID restrictions on movement throughout 2022.
National emissions are preliminarily estimated to be 485 Mt CO2-e in the year to June 2022, a decrease of 0.1% on the previous year to June. On a quarterly basis, national emissions are preliminarily estimated to be 121 Mt CO2-e, a decrease of 0.5% on the previous quarter in trend terms.
Quarterly emissions
This interactive graph shows emissions by quarter from March 2000 to March 2022.
You can select data by sector. Mouse over and click to view actual emissions or trends for any quarter.
Source: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Annual emissions data
This interactive graph shows annual emissions by year from March 1990 to March 2022.
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 Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Emissions by gas
This interactive graph shows quarterly emissions by gas from 2000 to 2022
Source: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Emissions by sector
This interactive graph shows annual emissions by sector from 1990 to 2022.
You can select data by year to see how sectoral contributions to total emissions have changed over time.
Source: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
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 Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
About 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.
Contact us
Email nationalgreenhouseaccounts@industry.gov.au
If you experience any difficulty accessing this document, please contact us.