Australia had the best ranges of greenhouse gasoline air pollution from coal per individual than another developed nation in 2021, in keeping with new information.
However the information reveals per capita greenhouse gasoline emissions from coal fell sharply final 12 months, with a surge in photo voltaic and wind vitality seeing per capita charges drop properly under the typical of the earlier 5 years.
Australia is the second most coal-dependant nation for energy era within the OECD, behind Poland, in keeping with the information compiled by UK-based thinktank Ember.
The Ember report says in 2021, emissions from coal amounted to 4.04 tonnes of CO2 for every individual. The second-placed nation was South Korea, with 3.18 tonnes a 12 months, adopted by China (3.06), South Africa (2.68) and the USA (2.23).
A earlier Ember report mentioned between 2015 and 2020, Australia’s per capita coal emissions had averaged 5.34 tonnes a 12 months.
Even with this fall in Australia – which Ember put right down to an increase in rooftop photo voltaic and wind energy – the nation was nonetheless the best per capita coal emitter in each the G20 and the OECD.
Australia’s excessive per capita coal emissions is nearly 4 instances the worldwide common and double the speed in the USA and Japan. Amongst OECD nations, solely Poland used the next share of coal for electrical energy than Australia.
Whereas Australia’s photo voltaic growth was decreasing coal use, there was nonetheless an extended method to go, Ember’s world lead, Dave Jones, mentioned.
“Burning coal on this scale is setting the stage for a lot of hearth seasons to come back,” he mentioned.
“The one largest motion the world can take to sort out the local weather disaster is to quickly transition away from antiquated coal energy and in direction of the clear and renewables-based electrical energy system of the longer term.”
In keeping with Ember, the share of the demand for electrical energy in Australia that was met by fossil fuels fell from 79% in 2019 to 70% in 2021. On the similar time, wind and photo voltaic rose from 13% to 22%.
Earlier this week, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, declined to supply a timeframe for when he thought coal can be phased out, saying this is able to be determined by coal plant operators.
Morrison has beforehand mentioned coal crops wanted to run till the tip of their lives, claiming costs at all times go up if coal crops shut.
In keeping with authorities projections launched in October, beneath present insurance policies, by 2030 some 69% of electrical energy era within the Nationwide Electrical energy Market (excluding Western Australia and the Northern Territory) will come from renewables.
Labor’s pre-election Powering Australia Plan says renewables will generate 82% of electrical energy within the NEM by 2030.
Throughout the nation, emissions from electrical energy account for 34% of greenhouse gasoline emissions – the most important single sector.
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