Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Greenhouse gases are a combination of gases measured by their Carbon Dioxide equivalent (CO₂-e). They're measured in the millions of tonnes (Mt). That makes the measurement unit Mt CO₂-eGuides: Glossary | Targets

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Net Emissions

Full Data

Explainer

Net emissions are total emissions released, minus carbon deemed to have been removed from the atmosphere.

  • Australia's 2030 target is to cut emissions by -43% from 2005 levels. That means reducing annual emissions to about 350 Mt CO₂-e.
  • In the latest update, published in March 2026, annual emissions for Australia were 458 Mt CO₂-e (-1.4% versus the previous quarter).
  • This data is updated quarterly.

Net Emissions - rolling 12 months

Aus

Reported quarterly

Source: DCCEEW Quarterly updates | Provenance: Official via OnlyFacts | Updated: 27 May 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0

Gross Emissions

Full Data

Explainer

Gross emissions are total emissions released before applying carbon removals. They show whether emissions are falling through real cuts or carbon accounting.

  • Land Use is the only sector that can both release and absorb greenhouse gases. OnlyFacts uses 'net emissions excluding Land Use' as a rough proxy for gross emissions.
  • It is imperfect because it also excludes emissions from Land Use activities themselves. It should therefore be treated as a rough guide.
  • In the latest update, published in March 2026, annual gross emissions for Australia were 510 Mt CO₂-e (-1.2% versus the previous quarter).
  • This data is updated quarterly.

Gross emissions - rolling 12 months

Aus

Reported quarterly. Gross = Emissions excluding land use

Source: DCCEEW Quarterly updates | Provenance: Official via OnlyFacts | Updated: 27 May 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0

States and Territories

Explainer

  • State and Territory emissions are reported separately from Australia's national emissions.
  • This data is updated annually, and is up to two years old.

Emissions by state and territory

Aus

Click for full data

STATE / TERRITORY

per 100k

Mt CO₂-e

NET

Source: DCCEEW | Provenance: Derived via OnlyFacts | Updated: 30 May 2025 | License: CC BY 4.0

Emissions by population

Aus

per 100k people

Source: DCCEEW | Provenance: Derived via OnlyFacts | Updated: 30 May 2025 | License: CC BY 4.0

Net emissions - annual

Aus

Reported annually

Source: DCCEEW | Provenance: Derived via OnlyFacts | Updated: 30 May 2025 | License: CC BY 4.0

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