Contemporary politics,local and international current affairs, science, music and extracts from the Queensland Newspaper "THE WORKER" documenting the proud history of the Labour Movement.
MAHATMA GANDHI ~ Truth never damages a cause that is just.
Thursday, 29 March 2018
Australia's emissions rise again in 2017, putting Paris targets in doubt
Rising greenhouse gas pollution comes despite decline in electricity sector emissions.
Photograph: Getty Images/Universal Images Group
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2017 were again the highest
on record when unreliable data from sectors including land clearing and
forestry are excluded, according to consultants NDEVR Environmental.
Even including land clearing, overall emissions show a continued rising trend, which began in about 2011, putting Australia’s commitment under the Paris agreement further out of reach.
The rising greenhouse gas pollution comes despite continued decline
in emissions from the electricity sector, following increased renewable
energy generation and the closure of Australia’s dirtiest coal power
station, Hazelwood.
NDEVR replicates the federal government’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (NGGI) quarterly reports,
but releases them months ahead of the official data. Previous NDEVR
reports’ figures have been within 1% of the official figures when they
are eventually released.
The latest NDEVR figures include the last three months of 2017,
allowing a comparison of calendar-year figures since records began in
2002, revealing 2017 had the highest emissions on record, when those
from land-use change are excluded.
Even including the unreliable land-use figures, overall emissions
continued their overall upward trend, taking Australia further from the
commitments it made in Paris to help keep global warming under 2C. It is
even making its current target (a 26-28% cut below 2005 levels by
2030), which experts agree is not yet strong enough to comply with the
Paris agreement, seem increasingly out of reach.
In 2017, Australia’s total emissions from all sectors excluding
land-use change came to 556.11m tonnes of CO2-equivalent greenhouse
gases, according to NDEVR’s projections. That surpassed the last record,
set in just 2016, by 7.21m tonnes.
Overall emissions including land-use change – which involves
activities such as land clearing and forestry – were the highest since
2011, indicating a clear upward trend since that time, reversing years
of declining emissions starting in 2007.
Emissions from the electricity sector in the last three months of
2017 were the lowest they’ve been in the data set, going back to 2001.
And in the full year, they were the second lowest, pipped only by 2013.
But that reduction was overwhelmed by increases in other sectors.
Emissions from transport were at a record high in the last three months
of 2017, continuing a steady rise since the records began in 2001.
Fugitive emissions, which include emissions from the production,
processing, transport, storage, transmission and distribution of fossil
fuels, were also projected to be the highest on record.
Stationary energy, which includes energy produced for industrial
processes such as the growing LNG industry, was also projected to be at
the equal highest on record, matching the previous quarter from July to
September 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment