Eight businesses in the Top 10 CO2 emitters list for 2016-17 are electricity generators. The top CO2 emitters are according to a report from the Clean Energy Regulator released yesterday. The ‘2016–17 National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting’ data also showed a slow-down of 0.5 per cent of emissions. Although Australia’s electricity generators have reduced their CO2 emissions, they still account for just over half of all emissions.
Emissions from grid-connected electricity generators reached 176 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. This makes up 54 per cent of the 336 million tonnes of the scope 1 national emissions.
Decreased CO2 emissions in electricity sector
Scope 1 emissions are those directly attributable to electricity generation at a power plant and are what makes those generators the top CO2 emitters. This is opposed to scope 2 & 3 emissions which come from from electricity use, fuel mining, asset maintenance and other auxiliary activities.
The good news is a 5 million tonne decrease in electricity sector emissions overall. This was due to reduced production from brown coal and the closure of Victoria’s Hazelwood power station.
The next largest contributors to total emissions were the manufacturing sectors. Collectively, they accounted for 15.8 per cent of scope 1 emissions. In addition, coal mining made up for 10 per cent of total emissions.
Renewables making an impact in lowering emissions
An increase in the use of renewables such as solar made an impact on emissions, according to the report. This has been on an industrial scale and at the grassroots level as residential solar installations increase.
The presence of renewables in the national energy mix (up 0.8 per cent from 2015–16) was cited as positive. And with more people seeking solar quotes as the cost of panels and battery storage reduces, installations are likely to increase further this year.
Top CO2 emitters decreasing output as generation refocuses
In addition, the report found less electricity generation from emissions intensive sources such as brown coal helped to lower emissions in 2016-17.
Its conclusion was that an energy mix moving towards renewables was naturally heading for lower emissions too.
“We expect that with ongoing investment in large-scale and small-scale renewables, and the upgrade or closure of emissions intensive facilities, the national energy mix will continue to evolve, resulting in further emissions decreases in the electricity sector in future years.”
