Greenhouse gas emissions from Australia’s electricity sector have shrunk about 7.6 per cent since the former Labor government introduced a price on carbon in 2012
The drop since July 2012 is the the equivalent of about 14.8 million tonnes of pollution and is reported by Fairfax Media, citing officials figures released today.
The reduction, revealed in the September-quarter National Greenhouse Gas Inventory figures, was mostly countered by rises in emissions from sectors of the economy uncovered or only partially covered by the carbon price.
The total emissions, excluding increases in emissions from land-clearing, came in at 542.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent for the year to September, or 0.3 per cent lower than a year earlier.
Fairfax Media reports that when changes in land use are added, overall emissions for the 12 months came to 567.5 million tonnes, or 1.2 per cent higher.
The inventory figures have largely tracked a similar path for many quarters.
Emissions from the power sector have been dropping, particularly since the introduction of a $23 a tonne price on carbon in mid-2012, making renewable energy supplies more attractive.
Demand for electricity has also been dropping as manufacturing shrank and energy efficiency efforts took hold.
Fairfax Media reports pollution from transportation, not covered by the carbon price, has been rising steadily, while emissions from coalmine expansion and new gas plants have been soaring.
The latter two sources are only partially covered by the carbon price, now at $24.15 per tonne, with offsets or free permits reducing the cost to polluters.
John Connor, chief executive of the Climate Institute, said companies in sectors with rising emissions, such as industrial processes, were often the recipients of free permits, particularly in trade-exposed industries.
For liquefied natural gas producers, the free permits covered about 65 per cent of their emissions, Mr Connor said.
‘‘We’re just at the dawn of their emissions profile, and they’ll be really starting to crank up particularly towards the end of this year,’’ he said.
‘‘They will be one of, if not the major headache for the Coalition which is why they are desperate to find ways to slice off growth of emissions in that sector.’’
Fugitive emissions, mostly from coal mining, were up 8.3 per cent for the year to September, while transport emissions rose two per cent, agriculture 1.8 per cent and industrial processes saw a 0.4 per cent increase, the conservative Liberal-National government said.
For the 12 months to September, emissions from the power sector were 5.5 per cent lower, or 11.3 million tonnes.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt, whose government is opposed to the carbon price, said the drop in emissions from the power sector was only ‘‘very slight’’ and was prompted by the Renewable Energy Target (RET) and reduced economic activity.
‘‘The carbon tax is not cutting emissions in any meaningful or significant way,’’ Mr Hunt said, adding that it ‘‘does not work – plain and simple’’.
Fugitive emissions and those from industrial process and stationary power were rising even though they were covered by the carbon price, he said.
Fairfax Media reports the Australian Greens Party leader Senator Christine Milne, however, said emissions from the power sector had fallen each quarter since the carbon price had been introduced.
She accused Mr Hunt of ‘‘cherry picking’’ the data to ‘‘justify the Abbott government’s ideological opposition to effective action on global warming.’’
‘‘Reducing free permits and ending fossil fuel subsidies to coal and gas would help to drive down emissions but the Abbott government is keen to maintain the culture of entitlement in those industries,’’ she said.
The Liberal-National government has vowed to repeal the carbon price laws, but Labor and the Australian Greens have so far foiled the move by using their majority in the Senate to reject the repeal legislation.
The Coalition’s alternative plan to achieve a five per cent reduction of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions on 2000 levels by 2020 is its “Direct Action” plan to pay polluters to cut emission.
That policy has been criticised by business groups and political opponents as being unlikely to meet the reduction target, given the budget caps and vague details released so far.
