Australia’s energy emissions intensity down 7.6% since carbon price

The Australian government says the emissions intensity of the country’s electricity generation sector has fallen significantly since the introduction of the carbon price at the start of July.

Quoting a chart using data from the Australian Energy Market Operator (see below), Climate Change Minister said  that in the first three months of the carbon price, electricity generated for the National Electricity Market emitted 0.85 tonnes of carbon pollution for each megawatt hour – a 7.6 per cent decline in emissions intensity compared to 2011-12.

“This means the amount of carbon pollution released into the atmosphere in the September quarter this year was 2.4 million tonnes lower than it would have been if emissions intensity had remained at the 2011-12 level of 0.92 tonnes per megawatt hour.”

It follows similar observations published by private energy consultants such as Pitt&Sherry, a trend that is likely to accelerate given the recent announcements about the reduction of capacity at the Talong and Yallourn coal-fired generators. The original AEMO data can be found here. The version below was adapted and published by the Sydney Morning Herald, and circulated by Combet’s office.