MELBOURNE: Australia's carbon emissions rose nearly 1 per cent in 2021, as driving and travel picked up and manufacturing activity recovered in the revival from COVID-19, the government said on Monday .
Emissions climbed by 4.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent to 488.0 Mt CO2-e, driven by a 4 per cent rise in transport emissions, a 3.3 per cent rise in the manufacturing sector and 4.2 per cent rise in the farm sector with a recovery from drought. It said the trend pointed to a further increase in the March quarter of 2022 to 489 Mt CO2-e, which would be a rise of 2 per cent from March 2021.
Emissions from large manufacturers will be targeted by the government's plan to tighten the so-called"safeguard mechanism" which requires the country's biggest emitters to keep their emissions below an agreed limit, or baseline, and buy carbon credits when they exceed that baseline.