Australia has beaten its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions target by 316 million tonnes, according to latest Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
In the year to June 2020, emissions were 513.4 million tonnes, down 3% or 16.1 Mt CO2-e on the previous year. This is the lowest level since 1998.
The single largest contributing factor to this reduction was the ongoing, structural decline in emissions from electricity. Other factors include the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on emissions from transport and the lingering effects of last year’s drought on agriculture.
The update provides estimates of Australia’s national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions up to the June quarter of 2020. It also includes interactive data to show:
- annual emissions from June 1990 to June 2020
- quarterly emissions from September 1999 to June 2020
