Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions: March 2024 quarterly update

Dept of Climate Change, Energy, Environment & Water

The latest Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: March 2024 is now available.

The report shows emissions were 440.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2-e) in the year to March 2024. This is a decrease of 0.6% (2.7 Mt CO2-e) compared with the previous year.

The change in emissions over the year to March 2024 reflects movements across sectors, including:

  • Ongoing reductions in electricity emissions (down 1.7%; 2.7 Mt CO2-e) as renewable energy uptake continues to displace fossil fuel generation.
  • Decreased fugitive emissions (down 1.7%; 0.8 Mt CO2-e), reflecting a fall in underground coal production and reductions in emissions primarily from natural gas venting and flaring.
  • Decreased emissions in stationary energy (excluding electricity) (down 0.9%; 0.9 Mt CO2-e), reflecting decreased combustion activity.
  • Decreased emissions from agriculture (down 0.7%; 0.6 Mt CO2-e) with the decrease in crop production partially offset by increased livestock emissions.
  • Increased transport emissions (up 2.6%; 2.5 Mt CO2-e), reflecting the continuing recovery from COVID-related movement restrictions.

Emissions in the year to March 2024 were 28.2% below June 2005 levels (the base year for Australia’s 43% reduction by 2030 target under the Paris Agreement).

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