NT government cannot tell Territorians how much greenhouse gas its agencies discharge

The Territory government has been called out for failing to come clean on a key policy issue. Read why they’re in hot-water and do our exclusive poll.

Despite setting a Territory-wide zero emissions target by 2050, the NT government still does not know how many tonnes of carbon its agencies and departments contribute to the Territory’s total emissions pool.

And the government has said it will not make the contents of a departmental and agency emissions review public when it is completed this year.

That is despite the latest commonwealth greenhouse data showing the Territory is the country’s emission reductions laggard.

The latest state and territory greenhouse gas inventories show the Territory’s emissions increased 52.9 per cent between 1990 and 2019, despite substantial falls nationally and in almost all other jurisdictions.

Emissions dropped 15.9 per cent nationally over the same period and in all other states and territories except the ACT (up 7.3 per cent) and WA (up 18 per cent).

In 2020 the Territory government set the economy on a pathway towards zero emissions by 2050, but unlike other governments did not set a 2030 emissions reduction target.

It opted instead for a 50 per cent renewable energy target for electricity generation.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles and DCM and Mining Minister Nicole Manison at last week’s Core Lithium media event.

But in 2021, the government commenced its large emitters policy which required industry to prepare a greenhouse gas abatement plan to demonstrate how projects will contribute to the Territory’s net zero emissions target.

The large emitters policy warns “all sectors will need to contribute to meeting the net zero emissions target, recognising the level of emissions they release to the atmosphere and their varying opportunities and capacities to avoid and mitigate their emissions”.

However the government was unable to explain how it plans to operate under its own policy requirements if it doesn’t know its own carbon emissions.

Speaking to mark the first shipment of Territory produced lithium for use in electric vehicle manufacturing from Core’s Finniss mine, Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison reiterated the government’s commitment to zero emissions.

“Let’s get real,” she said.

“If you want to lower emissions, if you want to tackle the issue of climate change in the world, then you have to mine the materials that will help you do that, and lithium is exactly that.”

But the government was less committed to discussing its own emissions, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles flatly ruling out releasing departmental emission figures.

In May 2021 the government awarded a $113,000 tender to Melbourne-based Point Advisory to prepare a detailed analysis of the Territory government’s greenhouse gas emissions profile.

Approaching two years later, the report has still not been released and the government has no plans to make it public.

“Something I will be sharing with Territorians going forward is around the work that we’re doing to reduce our emissions,” Ms Fyles said.

“Sometimes it is not easy to track that but I think it is important we don’t just have a few tokenistic electric vehicles, that we do have significant work in government departments to reduce our carbon footprint as we transition services to renewables.”

Kirsty Howey from the Environment Centre NT. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Environment Centre NT said the government needed to be accountable around its emission figures.

Chief executive Kirsty Howey said it was important for the community to trust the government’s own figures.

“The NT government should release these emissions figures to ensure transparency and accountability over their environmental performance,” Ms Howey said.

“If we can’t trust the government to come clean about their own departmental emissions, what hope do we have of transparency regarding the emissions of the Territory as a whole, which will be significantly increased if we open up new gas fields like Barossa and Beetaloo?”