‘Glaring inconsistency': National emissions jump may be underestimated

Australia's greenhouse gases rose for a third consecutive year in 2017, led by emissions from the gas and transport sectors, according to federal government data.

Land-clearing is on the increase in Queensland and NSW
but national emissions are showing a decline, puzzling analysts.

Environmental groups, however, say the true emissions figure may be under – estimated because large-scale land clearing – particularly in Queensland and lately in NSW – is not being accurately represented.

The National Greenhouse Gas inventory for last year, released without fanfare at the end of last week, showed emissions were up 1.5 per cent compared with 2016 to 533.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent.

Read Peter Hannam’s story from The Age - “‘Glaring inconsistency': National emissions jump may be underestimated.”

Gas boom fuels Australia's third straight year of rising emissions

Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar, increasing for the third consecutive year according to new data published by the Department of Environment and Energy.

Greenhouse gas emissions were driven by an
 increase of 17.6% in natural gas production.

The Turnbull government published new quarterly emissions data late on Friday which reveals Australia’s climate pollution increased by 1.5% in the year to December 2017.

The expansion in LNG exports and production is identified as the major contributor to the increase, but the data shows a jump in emissions across all sectors – including waste, agriculture and transport – except for electricity, the one area that recorded a decrease in emissions.

Read the story bye Lisa Cox from The Guardian -  “Gas boom fuels Australia's third straight year of rising emissions.”