Australia becomes more reliant on coal under Lieberals - major polluters increase emissions

It was all just window dressing. Abbott's "climate change is crap" attitude well and truly stamped on the Lieberal's so called greenhouse emissions reduction scheme. Now numbers are coming in as to how much it's worked. The result on last year? It hasn't.

In fact greenhouse emissions have actually increased and Australia has become more reliant on coal. AGL had it's emissions double from the year before.

The data, and an analysis from the Australian Conservative Foundation, confirm that in the same year that Australia signed up to the historic Paris climate deal – an agreement to actively pursue efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels – the nation’s carbon pollution levels increased, as the country’s electricity generation sector became even more reliant on coal power. 

The ACF report finds that despite the federal government’s assurances that its climate policies are working, the amount of climate pollution being emitted is rising – the vast majority of which comes from burning black and brown coal to generate electricity. 

“Energy companies in the 10 biggest climate polluters list are responsible for the equivalent of 22 per cent of Australia’s climate pollution,” says the report, and nearly all through scope 1 emissions (scope 1 emissions are those that result directly from an activity at a facility (or machine) owned by a company. Scope 2 emissions come from the consumption of electricity produced at another facility). 

Using the latest National Greenhouse & Energy Reporting Scheme data, the report shows that all but two of these 10 companies polluted more in the last year than in the previous one; a trend led by AGL Energy which, as you can see the in table and chart below, effectively doubled its emissions (yoy) in 2014-15, despite its well publicised efforts at a green energy makeover. Renew Economy