Key points covered in this edition of the Monitor include:

• Annual emission reductions are entirely attributable to the growing share of renewable electricity generation, with emissions from gas, as well as from petroleum fuels, remaining constant. Reducing these emissions, which at the end of March this year accounted for just over half of total fossil fuel emissions in eastern Australia, is a huge policy challenge for the new government.
• This time last year, fossil fuel combustion emissions in eastern Australia were rebounding, following the easing of pandemic lockdowns. Since August 2021, however, emissions have again been decreasing on an annualised basis, as consumption of petroleum fuels have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic levels.
• In the National Electricity Market, over the 12 months from May 2021 to May 2022, monthly median spot wholesale prices increased by over five times in Victoria and South Australia, six times in Tasmania and New South Wales, and seven times in Queensland.  Average prices rose steadily for the whole period up to March 2021 and have increased drastically since then.
• The increase in petrol and diesel prices is more recent. After adjusting for the excise reduction at the end of March, the increase in daily wholesale prices since the start of January to the end of May was about 54% for both petrol and diesel.
• Public subsidies to support the continuing operation of Australia’s two remaining oil refineries can have no effect on fuel prices in Australia and does nothing for fuel security, since Australia depends on imports for more than 90% of its consumption of crude oil and petroleum products. Subsidising these refineries is an explicit obstacle to a transition towards a cleaner, more efficient and lower emission road transport system.

Download the Australian Energy Emissions Monitor June 2022.