PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Australia has recorded a 4.4%, or 23.3-million-tonne, decline in emissions in the year to September 2020, with emissions reaching 510.1-million tonnes, the federal government’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory has shown.

Australia’s emissions are now 19% below 2005 levels, which is the baseline year for the 2030 Paris Agreement target.

Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said that these results reflected significant long-term structural declines in emissions from the electricity and agriculture sectors, and a temporary decline in emissions from agriculture, owing to the drought, and transport, owing to Covid-19 restrictions.

Despite the reduction in emissions, the Australian economy grew by 3.3% during the September quarter, Taylor said.

“Increasing economic activity is flowing through to transport emissions, which rose during the quarter, together with emissions from agricultural production as the effects of the drought eased. Overall, emissions in the September quarter fell 1% in trend terms but rose 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted and weather normalised basis. 

“In the year to December 2020, emissions in the National Electricity Market fell 5.6% to a new record low. 

“The continuing structural decline in emissions from electricity is driven by Australia’s world leading deployment of solar and wind. Since 2017, Australia has invested A$35-billion in renewables and we are continuing to deploy new solar and wind 10 times faster than the global per person average.”

Taylor noted that the production of exports for overseas markets generates 38.6% of Australia’s total emissions, with the value of Australia’s overseas exports having increased by around A$80-billion since September 2013.

“Despite upward pressure from exports and industry, emissions per capita and the emissions intensity of the economy continue to fall and are at their lowest levels in three decades.

“The government is taking real and meaningful action to reduce emissions, with more than $5.6-billion committed to new emissions reduction measures through the last two federal Budgets,” he said.

“Australia’s Technology Investment Roadmap will guide A$18-billion of government investment over the next 10 years to leverage A$70-billion of new investment in Australia in low emissions technologies by 2030. Our plan will support 130 000 jobs by 2030 and avoid in the order of 250-million tonnes of emissions by 2040.

“Investing in low emissions technologies will enable Australia’s continued success in meeting and beating our emissions reduction targets. Australia beat its 2020 target by 459-million tonnes and we are on track to meet and beat our 2030 Paris target.

“Over the last two years, the projected emissions reduction required to achieve that target has fallen by 639-million tonnes, the equivalent of taking all of Australia’s 14.7-million cars off the road for 15 years.”