National Greenhouse Accounts Factors
In Australia, the National Greenhouse Accounts Factors are a valuable resource for estimating greenhouse gas emissions across sectors like energy, industrial processes, waste, agriculture, and land use. They offer emission factors and methods for companies and individuals, covering scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 emissions.
The latest version includes factors for electricity consumption (both location-based and market-based), combustion of solid fuels, waste emissions, agriculture, and land use:
Factors for electricity consumption - the location-based factors that consider the emissions associated with the electricity grid where consumption occurs, while market-based factors consider residual mix emissions factors. The Scope 2 emission factor and residual mix factor rely on the following data:
- Fossil fuels - greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels from NGER including state-based data and the physical characteristics of the electricity supply and demand.
- Electricity - interstate trade of electricity from AEMO (sourced through the NEM-Review tool) for the same period as the NGER emissions data.
- Renewable generation - from wind, hydro, large-scale solar, and small-scale solar (residential and commercial rooftops) data from AEMO (sourced through the NEM-Review software tool) for the same period as the NGER emissions data.
- Methane - emissions of methane from water reservoirs that are used for hydroelectricity generation.
- Biofuels - calculated using Large-Scale Generation Certificate creations in the Renewable Energy Certificate Register.
Factors for the combustion of solid fuels (including coal-based products) - emissions factors are available for industrial processes, heating, and other combustion activities. Waste emission factors cover various waste management practices such as landfilling, incineration, and recycling, with specific emission factors for different waste types.
Factors for agriculture - emission factors are available for various activities, including enteric fermentation (livestock digestion), manure management, rice cultivation (methane emissions from rice paddies), and agricultural soils (nitrous oxide emissions from soil management).
Factors for land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) - emission factors are available that address emissions and removals associated with land use changes, afforestation, and deforestation, and include carbon sequestration in forests and soil.
For the full report, go to www.dcceew.gov.au.
Note
Table 3 from the 2024 National Greenhouse Accounts Factors is not included in Continia Sustainability's emission factors because it relates to carbon credits.