National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Quarterly Update: September 2022

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 September quarter of 2022
• preliminary national emissions up to the December quarter of 2022.

Data insights

Emissions for the year to September 2022 are estimated to be 490.5 Mt CO2-e, up 0.1% or 0.3 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 as renewable energy uptake continues (down 3.1%; 5.1 Mt CO2-e);
• Decreased fugitive emissions (down 3.0%; 1.5 Mt CO2-e), reflecting decreased production of LNG at multiple facilities impacted by scheduled maintenance and industrial action; 
• Increased transport emissions (up 4.3%; 3.8 Mt CO2-e) reflecting the ongoing recovery from COVID related travel restrictions;
• Increased emissions from agriculture (up 3.2%; 2.5 Mt CO2-e) due to the continuing recovery from drought driving increases in livestock numbers and crop production; and 
• Increased emissions from stationary energy (excluding electricity) (up 0.7%; 0.7 Mt CO2-e); driven primarily by increased activity in the chemical manufacturing sector. 

Emissions in the year to September 2022 were 21.0% 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 September quarter 2022 increased 0.3% or 0.3 Mt CO2-e on the previous quarter in trend terms. The trend result for the September quarter 2022 reflects increases across the transport, fugitive emissions, agriculture and stationary energy (excluding electricity) sectors. These increases were partially offset by decreases across the electricity, industrial processes, and Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) sectors. 

In the year to September 2022, the emissions intensity of the economy continued its long-term decline, down 49.3% on 2005 levels. Emissions per capita were 38.9% lower than 2005. 

National emissions are preliminarily estimated to be 490 Mt CO2-e in the year to December 2022, a decrease of 0.3% on the previous year to December. On a quarterly basis, national emissions are preliminarily estimated to be 123 Mt CO2-e in trend terms, a decrease of 0.1% on the previous quarter.

Quarterly emissions

The interactive dashboard presents national emissions estimates from June 2005 to September 2022. Navigate between the pages to view emissions estimates by quarter, year, gas and sector.

Filter the data using the drop-down boxes to customise the view. Mouse over the charts to view actual emissions or trends for any quarter.

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.