There is a sharp drop in Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions at the end of last year. Australia’s emissions fell by 3.57 million tonnes in the three months to December.
The fall is the largest for the quarter since the government began recording emissions in 2001. This was entirely due to record levels of hydro and wind generation in October.
But projected emissions for the December quarter were still 6.89 million tonnes over levels demanded by scientifically based targets set by the government’s Climate Change Authority.
And, long term, the results show Australia is set to run more than 300 million tonnes over what is required to meet its Paris targets in 2030.
Wind power supplied 6.4 per cent of all national electricity market generation in October. The contribution of hydro electricity was due in big part to all the rainfall around the Snowy mountains catchment area in NSW.