Downturn triggers slump in emissions

THE eastern states slashed their carbon emissions from energy use by almost 2 per cent last year, as electricity demand fell.

THE eastern states slashed their carbon emissions from energy use by almost 2 per cent last year, as weak economic conditions caused electricity demand to fall.

The Climate Group's annual Greenhouse Indicator, to be released today, shows emissions in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia were 5.3 million tonnes, or 1.8 per cent, lower last year than in 2008.

This followed a rise in emissions from energy use of 1.3 per cent in 2008. The fall in emissions occurred despite strong population growth of between 1.2 and 2.6 per cent in the four states.

In addition, although their economies were battered by the global financial crisis, all four states recorded growth in gross state product of 0.2 to 1.4 per cent.

The Climate Group's Australian director, Rupert Posner, said the emission cuts were encouraging. "If we were to continue to cut by this much each year, emissions from energy would be almost 20 per cent lower by 2020," he said.

"Unfortunately, this isn't the whole story as low rates of growth have helped keep emissions down. As the economy returns to more robust levels of growth, continued reductions will be much harder to achieve unless we start to change the way we produce and use energy in a much more meaningful way."

The report shows that the biggest contributor to the fall in emissions was a decrease in the amount of electricity produced from coal of 3.1 per cent.

Overall, electricity generation was down 1.9 per cent last year, driven partly by a 0.6 per cent drop in demand. But the carbon intensity of the electricity produced was virtually unchanged.

In Victoria, electricity generation from brown coal, the most carbon intensive, rose 1.2 per cent.

Across the nation, the share of gas-fired electricity rose from 8.4 to 9.3 per cent and the share of renewable energy increased from 2.7 to 2.8 per cent.

South Australia registered the biggest drop of 4.2 per cent in emissions last year. The biggest absolute decrease was in NSW, which cut its emissions by 3.2 million tonnes, a drop of 3.1 per cent.