Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions rise again, according to delayed Federal Government data

Australia's greenhouse gas emissions have reached record highs in many sectors, continuing an upward trend that began in 2013, according to official Government figures released today.

LNG projects, like this one in the Pilbara, have
contributed to Australia's rising emissions.

The Federal Government's Quarterly Update of the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory for the three months to December 2018 shows emissions increased by 0.8 per cent seasonally adjusted, compared to the previous quarter.

That increase was, in part, driven by emissions from LNG for export, diesel consumption across transport, and metal manufacturing. 

"While emissions increases from the rapid growth of LNG exports are included in Australia's emissions in the report, the success of this industry means that it has potentially reduced global emissions by up to 27 per cent of Australia's annual emissions in the year to December 2018," Energy Minister Angus Taylor said in a statement. 

Read the ABC News story by Penny Timms and Michael Slezak - “Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions rise again, according to delayed Federal Government data.”

Australia’s emissions go up again, but Environment Minister says progress being made

Australia's greenhouse gas emissions for the quarter ending in June 2018 have risen again, continuing the upward trend in emissions since 2013.

Emissions have increased again due to LNG and coal production.

The latest Quarterly Update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory shows a 1.3 per cent increase on the previous quarter.

Emissions for the year ending in June 2018 have increased on the previous year by 0.6 per cent, pushing Australia's emissions to the highest they have been since 2011.

According to the report, the increase was mainly driven by high liquefied natural gas (LNG) production for export and "a 15 per cent rebound in coal production after a downturn in the March 2018 quarter”.

Read the story from ABC News by environment reporter, Nick Kilvert - “Australia’s emissions go up again, but Environment Minister says progress being made.”

Global warming trend with ups and downs, but without slowdown or speed-up

Temperatures worldwide are increasing due to greenhouse-gases from fossil fuels. Past claims of a noteworthy ‘slowdown’ of the global warming trend are proven wrong by statistical analysis, a new study shows. Researchers from Germany and the US examined global-mean surface temperature trends, in the light of the three record breaking years 2014-2015-2016 in most datasets. While there of course is some natural short-term variability, the study finds no significant slowdown let alone ‘pause’ in the upward trend.

“Short-term fluctuations are normal in global temperature, and they can be deceptive,” says lead author Stefan Rahmstorf. “Because fluctuation is ever-present, it is important to tell the difference between genuine trend change and appearances that are merely the manifestation of ‘noise’”. Most scientific publications that discussed an alleged ‘hiatus’ have not provided a thorough statistical assessment. The scientists, including two statisticians, examined five separate global temperature data sets – the NASA GISTEMP, NOAA, HadCRUT4, the revision of HadCRUT by Cowtan and Way, and the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature BEST.

Read the Science and Technology Research News story - “Global warming trend with ups and downs, but without slowdown or speed-up.”