The National Greenhouse Accounts were released by the Federal Government yesterday showing Australia’s emissions over the last year. Carbon emissions as a result have electricity generation have dropped 14 million tonnes while our total carbon pollution is down by 0.2%.

Annual emissions for the year to December 2012 were estimated at 551.9 million tonnes from 553.2 million tonnes the year prior. The annual total decrease in carbon emissions is largely due to the decrease in emissions from electricity generation. This decrease comes from more clean energy systems (including rooftop solar power systems) being installed across the county creating a decrease in demand for fossil fuel electricity.

“The combination of the carbon price, Renewable Energy Target and energy efficiency policies have made an important contribution to turning around the growth of electricity sector emissions since Labor was elected in November 2007,” says the Minister for Climate Change, Greg Combet’s office in a statement.

The Accounts show that the first six months of the 2012/13 financial year recorded the lowest values of electricity generated carbon emissions since 2001. In addition, even black and brown coal generation emission recorded their lowest figures in over a decade with reductions of 5.3% and 7% respectively.

As expected, generations from renewable energies such as solar power jumped by 10.1% with more growth anticipated.

However, there have been increases in carbon emissions in other Australian sectors which are cause for some debate – many believe it is due to Australia’s economic growth. Minister Combet’s office said, “This shows the importance of continued action on climate change across a number of fronts, including the carbon price and investing in cleaner energy sources to cut carbon pollution.”

Sectors such as transport – who are partly exempt from the carbon tax – have shown an increase in their carbon emissions. The Climate Institute CEO, John Connor said, “The unevenness of improvement underscores the need to have a comprehensive policy framework that addresses the sectors where emissions are increasing.” He believes that the Government’s carbon policies need uniformity and strengthening.

Click here to see the full copy of the Australian National Greenhouse Accounts.