Government reports indicate that Australia has reached record levels of renewable electricity generation, with emissions falling compared to previous years.
According to the September 2024 quarterly update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, alongside data from the Clean Energy Regulator, renewables supplied 46 per cent of electricity in the final quarter of 2024, with a total of 92,700 gigawatt hours of renewable energy generated across the year.
This marks a 30 per cent increase since 2021.
The reports highlight that daily renewable generation records were also set, with 75 per cent of electricity in the National Energy Market (NEM) coming from renewables on 6 November, and 85 per cent in Western Australia on 17 November.
Australia added 7.5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity in 2024, surpassing the 5.3GW added in 2023. This included 4.3GW of new large-scale generation and 3.2GW of rooftop solar, both breaking national records.
Investment in renewables remains strong, with $9 billion worth of projects reaching final investment decisions last year. These projects are expected to deliver an additional 4.3GW of large-scale capacity and create more than 10,000 construction and installation jobs.
The government reports also show that Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions are now 29 per cent below 2005 levels, the baseline for the country’s 2030 Paris Agreement target.
Total emissions across all sectors in the September 2024 quarter were 2.2 million tonnes lower than the same period in 2023, and 7 million tonnes lower than in early 2022. While transport emissions have risen post-pandemic, declines in other energy and industrial sectors have contributed to the overall reduction.
Government projections estimate that emissions will continue to decrease, reaching 42.6 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
The data comes alongside findings from the Climate Change Authority, which recently projected that a shift away from renewables in favour of nuclear or extended coal-fired power generation could result in two billion tonnes of additional emissions by 2050.
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