Latest greenhouse and energy data

Greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption data of approximately 300 Australian corporations was recently published on the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency’s website.

The Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer, Ross Carter, says the information published today is the culmination of the second year of reporting under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act.

This is the second year of greenhouse and energy reporting under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act, and the response from industry has been commendable as we have worked together to get the scheme established.

“Over 700 corporations were registered in 2009-10, of which approximately 300 corporations met the publishing threshold of 87.5 kilotonnes carbon dioxide equivalent and have today had their data published,” Carter said. “The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting data is available to federal, state and territory government agencies, and can be used to fulfil legislative requirements, meet international reporting obligations and inform policy development.

“The department will continue to work with corporations to help them understand and meet their statutory greenhouse and energy reporting obligations.”

Under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act, corporations that meet or exceed emissions thresholds are required to report data by 31 October each year. A subset of this data is then published by 28 February the following year.

The data reported is the respective totals for:

• Scope 1 emissions - greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere as a result of a corporation’s activities;
• Scope 2 emissions - greenhouse gases emitted because of the electricity, heating, cooling or steam that is consumed at the facility (but are generated elsewhere); and
• Energy consumption - the use or disposal of energy from the operation of a facility, including own use and losses in extraction, production and transmission.

Publication and reporting thresholds are being lowered progressively over the first three NGER years, which has contributed to an increase in the number of corporations with data published in 2009-10 from the first reporting year in 2008-09.