CANBERRA, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Australia's greenhouse gas emissions rose slightly in 2024, according to a federal government report published on Friday.
The report, which was released by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), said that Australia produced 446.4 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2024, an increase of 0.05 percent from 446.2 million tons in 2023.
It said that emissions from industrial processes and product use were 5 percent lower in 2024 than in 2023 and that agriculture emissions were down 2 percent in the same period.
However, the report said electricity emissions in 2024 were 2.2 percent higher than in 2023 and that transport emissions were up 1.9 percent.
Australia's total emissions were 27 percent lower in 2024 than in the year to June 2005, and emissions per capita were 46.3 percent lower, the report said.
The federal government has committed to a target under the Paris Agreement to cut Australia's total emissions by at least 43 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.
The Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, said in response to the report that the government is "on track" to reach the 2030 target, with falling emissions from the country's largest industrial facilities expected to "drive further reductions".
"We need to keep going and ensuring we're delivering downwards pressure on emissions across the economy," he said in a statement.
The DCCEEW update said that renewable electricity generation was up 5.6 percent in 2024 but that "unusual" weather, including a drought in the island state of Tasmania, which drove lower output from hydro-electricity generators, and caused increased reliance on coal and gas generators than 2023.
The report said national emissions for the 12 months to the end of March 2025 are preliminarily estimated to be 442 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which would be a decrease of 1.2 percent from the 12-month period to March 2024. ■
