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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 September quarter of 2021
- emissions from the National Electricity Market up to the December quarter 2021.
Quarterly emissions
This interactive graph shows emissions by quarter from September 2000 to September 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 September 1990 to September 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 have changed over time.
Source: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
Emissions per capita and emissions per GDP
This interactive graph shows annual 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 September 2021 are estimated to be 501.5 Mt CO₂-e. This is 0.8%
(4.0 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 4.7%)
- lower fugitive emissions (down 5.1%), resulting from declines in coal production
- increased transport emissions (up 1.4%) reflecting a gradual recovery from the impacts of COVID restrictions on movement
- increased emissions from stationary energy excluding electricity (up 1.7%), driven by an increase in fuel combustion in the manufacturing sector
- increased emissions from agriculture (up 3.8%) due to the continuing recovery from recent drought.
Emissions in the year to September 2021 were 19.8% below emissions in the year to June 2005 (the baseline year for Australia’s 2030 target under the Paris Agreement ).
National emission levels for the September 2021 quarter decreased 0.5% (0.6 Mt CO₂-e) from the previous quarter in trend terms. The trend result for the September quarter reflects decreases across the electricity and transport sectors. These decreases were partially offset by increases across the stationary energy, fugitive emissions, industrial processes and agriculture sectors.
In the year to September 2021, emissions per capita and the emissions intensity of the economy were at their lowest levels in 31 years. Emissions per capita were lower than 1990 by 47.1%, while the emissions intensity of the economy was 67.0% lower than in 1990.
National emissions are preliminarily estimated to be 501 Mt CO₂-e in the year to December 2021, an increase of 0.3% on the previous year. National emissions for the December quarter 2021 are preliminarily estimated to be 124 Mt CO₂-e in trend terms, a decrease of 0.7% 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: September 2021 [PDF 4.41 MB]
Quarterly Update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: September 2021 [DOCX 5 MB]
Download the data
Contact us
Email nationalgreenhouseaccounts@industry.gov.au
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