CER Releases Australia’s 10 Largest Carbon Emitters

The Clean Energy Regulator has recently revealed Australia’s 10 highest carbon emitters, showing coal-fired generators took the majority of the positions.
An article published on the website of The Age cited Clean Energy Regulator’s latest data which shows Australia recorded emissions of approximately 336 million tonnes of direct carbon dioxide equivalent emission within the 2016-17 financial year.
The report also revealed that almost half of the country’s direct emissions, which accounted for 49.7 percent, came from 10 companies and their assets, and Queensland is the top emitting state.
Here are the largest emitters based on the CER’s annual report:

1. AGL – 43.4 million tonnes – This is due to the fact that it owns Bayswater, Liddell, and Loy Yang A coal-fired power stations and some smaller gas-fired power stations.
2. Energy Australia – 21.7 million tonnes – It owns the huge brown coal-fired Yallourn power station in Victoria and the Mt. Piper black coal-fired power station in New South Wales. Recently, it purchased two new gas-fired power stations in Victoria and operates the Tallawarra gas power station.
3. Stanwell Corp – 18.6 million tonnes – The Stanwell and Tarong coal-fired power station is run by Stanwell Corp, posting almost half of Queensland’s coal-fired generating capacity.
4. Origin Energy – 17.2 million tonnes – The largest single emitter, and Australia’s largest single coal power station, is Origin Energy’s Eraring coal-fired power station.
5. CS Energy – 14.1 million tonnes – CS Energy operates three major coal-fired power stations namely Kogan Creek, Gladstone, and the Callide B and C power stations.
6. Engie – 11.4 million tonnes – The company has shut down and handed off all of its coal-fired generator assets such as the Hazelwood and Loy Yang B brown coal-fired power stations.
7. OZGen Holdings – 10.3 million tonnes – OZGen owns InterGen Energy that operates the Millmerran power station and co-owns the Callide C power station with CS Energy in Queensland.
8. Woodside Petroleum – 10.2 million tonnes – This is one of the country’s largest oil and gas companies, running offshore oil rigs off the coast of Western Australia.
9. Loy Yang Holdings P/L – 10.1 million tonnes – It was a subsidiary of Engie and manages two plant operations of the Loy Yang B power station and the Kwinana cogeneration plant.
10. Glencore – 9.7 million tonnes – Glencore is the largest coal miner in Australia and also has rock mines such as zinc, copper, and nickel, and farming operations.

The electricity sector posted 52 percent of all emissions, at 176 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in total. Mining and resources follow with 23 percent, while manufacturing is the third highest emitting sector at 16 percent.
Read the full report here.