Australia's Carbon Emissions Reached Record High In 2018 - Environmental NGO

Australia's annual carbon emissions reached a record high level of 558.4 million tonnes last year, the Ndevr Environmental non-governmental organization said on Thursday in a report

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th March, 2019) Australia's annual carbon emissions reached a record high level of 558.4 million tonnes last year, the Ndevr Environmental non-governmental organization said on Thursday in a report.

"When excluding unreliable land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) emission estimations, Australia's annual emissions for the Calendar year to December 2018 were the highest on record at 558.4 Mt CO2-e. This beats the previous high in the year to December 2017 with 553.6 Mt CO2-e and year to December 2016 with 550.2 Mt CO2-e," the NGO said.

According to the report, annual emissions from the electricity sector have been decreasing for three years in a row but were offset by emissions from other sectors.

"Annual emissions from the electricity sector have been declining for three consecutive years. The increase in emissions from other energy sectors over the same period, including stationary energy (excluding electricity), transport and fugitive emissions has entirely offset the declining electricity emissions and is the largest contributor to Australia's rising emissions for the last three years," the report noted.

The issued data showed that Australia was still not on the way to meet its target under the Paris Agreement on climate change, which envisages a 26-28 percent decrease in carbon emissions comparing to the 2005 level.

The Paris climate deal, created within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, went into force on November 4, 2016. It has been ratified by 185 of the 197 parties to the accord. The deal aims to keep the increase in average global temperature at below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.