Introduction
Corporate emissions make up about 85% of Australia’s total net emissions. Here’s how they compared in the last financial year (2023-24).
- Australia's corporate emissions: 368.3 Mt CO₂-e (-1.6% vs 2023)
- Australia's total net emissions: 434.6 Mt CO₂-e (-1.7% vs 2023)
The takeaway? Corporate emissions are effectively Australia’s emissions—just seen through the lens of corporate operations.
This underscores the important role of businesses in driving emissions reductions.
Where Corporate Emissions Data Comes From
OnlyFacts collects data from hundreds of different sources. When it comes to corporate emissions, our team often investigates discrete sources, such as annual reports, sustainability reports or even direct requests to companies.
But the main data source for corporate emissions in Australia is the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Scheme.
The NGER Scheme requires certain companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions. It is administered by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER), which collates and publishes the data.
NGER data comes from companies reporting their own emissions.
- Which companies? Those exceeding thresholds set by the NGER Act: facilities emitting ≥25 kt CO₂-e or using ≥100 TJ of energy, and corporate groups emitting ≥50 kt CO₂-e or using ≥200 TJ. The latest release covers 392 companies.
- What do they have to report? Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which means those directly produced by companies and the energy they consume, before applying any offsets. They must also report their energy production and consumption.
- How reliable is the data? Companies report their own emissions using activity data and approved calculation methods. They can opt for voluntary audits, or the CER might audit them. The CER looks for reasonable assurance—high confidence but not absolute certainty. Ultimately, emissions data is laden with estimates and assumptions.
Corporate Emissions Trend
Here's a look at the trend in Australia's corporate emissions. This shows the sum of reported emissions by all the companies in the NGER Scheme, compared with Australia's total reported net emissions.
Here is the corporate data presented as a table. Notice how it shows the greenhouse gas emissions (measured in million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (Mt CO₂-e)) and the year-on-year percentage change.
About OnlyFacts Rankings
OnlyFacts collects the NGER data published by CER, and publishes it in the form of rankings. Companies that are obliged to report under NGER are ranked from highest to lowest emitter.
Rankings are organised by scopes. Scopes are used to categorise emissions data and tell us the causal link between the company and emissions.
- Scope 1: Direct emissions from owned or controlled sources.
- Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased energy.
- Scope 3: All other indirect emissions across the value chain.
Scope 3 emissions are not reported under the NGER. Therefore, the rankings are divided as followed:
- Scope 1 + 2 (the biggest corporate emitters)
- Scope 1 only (businesses with large direct emissions)
- Scope 2 only (energy-intensive businesses)
