think climate. think change.
Department of Climate Change, June 2008
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The National Inventory Report 2006 updates the estimates presented in the National Inventory Report 2005 Revised, submitted under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in February 2006. As a party to the UNFCCC Australia has produced national inventories since 1992 and is committed to publishing updated national inventories each year. This report covers the period 1990 to 2006.
The National Inventory Report 2006 has been compiled using the methods described in the Australian Methodology for the Estimation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks 2006 series. The Australian methodologies conform to the international guidelines adopted by the UNFCCC and are available on the Department of Climate Change website. The methodologies used to estimate Australia’s inventory have been improved over time and will continue to be refined as new information emerges and as international practice evolves. The impact on greenhouse gas emission estimates of refinements to methodologies adopted for this inventory has been reported in chapter 10 (Volume 2).
In addition to this Report, the Department of Climate Change (DCC) publishes a range of supporting emission estimates that, together, constitute the Australian National Greenhouse Accounts. In addition to the National Inventory Report, the Department of Climate Change also prepares:
These documents are available on the DCC website at www.climatechange.gov.au/inventory. They provide additional information with respect to Australia’s emissions on both a regional and industry basis
In 2006, net emissions of greenhouse gases in Australia are estimated to have been 549.9 Mt (CO2-e). By comparison, net emissions were 554.8 Mt in 2005 and 515.9 Mt in 1990. An overview of emission trends at the national level is provided in chapter 2.
The combined energy subsectors (stationary energy, transport and fugitive emissions from fossil fuel extraction and distribution) were the largest source of net national emissions, contributing 73% of the total in 2006. This proportion, while signifi cant, is nonetheless less than in many countries due to the relatively large contribution from the agriculture (16%) sector to Australia’s inventory. Other sources of emissions include industrial processes, such as from the manufacture of mineral products, emissions from waste disposal and land use, land use change and forestry. A full overview of emission estimates by source and sink is given in chapter 2. More detailed information on the emission results for individual sectors has been reported in the introduction to chapters 3 - 6 in Volume 1 and chapters 7 and 8, contained in Volume 2.
The National Inventory Report also presents estimates of emissions of indirect greenhouse gases, including NOx, CO, NMVOC and SO2. For these gases, no Global Warming Potentials are available to enable their conversion to carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. Consequently these emissions sources are not able to be aggregated and nor are they covered by the reporting provisions of the Kyoto Protocol. Estimates of Australia’s emissions from NOx, CO, NMVOC and SO2 are presented in chapter 2.
1 Separate estimates of Australia’s emissions are compiled according to the inventory reporting requirements for the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. The principal difference between the two approaches relates to the accounting of forestry sinks. The UNFCCC inventory also includes reporting of indirect greenhouse gases for which global warming potentials are not available.
