Australian greenhouse emissions rise in 2008

The Economic Times , Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Correspondent : REUTERS
CANBERRA: Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions grew by 1.1 percent in 2008 to 553 million tonnes, but the country remained on track to meet its target under the Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said on Monday.

Wong released the latest national greenhouse gas inventory and said Australia was about 1 percent ahead of its Kyoto Protocol target, which allows Australia to increase emissions to 108 percent of 1990 levels during 2008-2012.

But taking into account emissions from grasslands and croplands because of drought, the emissions increase was much higher, she said.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries will meet in Copenhagen in December to try to agree on a broader climate pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012.

"The underlying trends show Australia's carbon pollution is increasing, particularly in the energy sector," Wong said in a statement.

The government ratified the Kyoto Protocol as its first official act after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was sworn into power in late 2007, ending more than a decade of conservative rule and opposition to the pact.

Australia wants to introduce emissions trading by mid-2011 to curb carbon emissions, blamed for global warming, and has promised to cut emissions by up to 25 percent of 2000 levels by 2020 if there is an international agreement to take firm action.

Wong said that without carbon trading, Australian emissions would rise to around 120 percent of 2000 levels by 2020.

Australia relies on coal for about 80 percent of its electricity.

The greenhouse accounts show the stationary energy sector comprised 53.9 per cent of national emissions and increased by 49.5 percent between 1990 and 2007. An increase in emissions from the combustion of coal accounted for 66.1 per cent of the overall increase in emissions.

Transport comprised 14.6 percent, up 26.9 percent in 2007 compared to 1990, while agriculture, which will initially be exempt from an emissions trading scheme, accounted for 16.3 percent of emissions, up 1.5 percent from 1990.

However, the national inventory report shows an increase of 82 per cent in Australia's emissions from 1990 to 2007 as a result of a temporary jump in emissions from grasslands and croplands because of widespread drought conditions.

"While this does not affect Australia's Kyoto obligations, these figures highlight the importance of improving treatment of the land sector so that only anthropogenic emissions and removals are included towards mitigation commitments in any future global agreement," Wong said.

 
SOURCE : Tuesday, June 02, 2009
 


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