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Australia Climate Factsheets Electricity FACTSHEET 2 2 Australia’s Power Supply Brown and polluting KEYKEY FACTS FACTS Electricity emissions contribute a third of The Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit requires that GHG Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions. coal fired electricity be phased out by around 2030 in developed countries including Australia. Coal accounts for 62% of electricity generation Australia has no national plan to manage the in Australia, helping make it one of the most transition of coal fired power out of the polluting electricity grids in the world. electricity system. Dependence on coal makes Australia’s Electricity Emissions Performance 1990 - 2030 grid one of the dirtiest in the world S.AFRICA Australia has one of the most polluting AUSTRALIA electricity grids in the world. Coal INDIA accounts for about 62% of electricity generation in Australia, a proportion CHINA which is slowly declining, but which GERMANY Estimated improvement needs to rapidly accelerate so that it is USA from 2017 to 2030 close to zero by around 2030. Coal is JAPAN the most carbon intensive fossil fuel and phasing it out is a key step to Progress from ITALY achieve the emissions reductions 2000 to 2017 EU needed to limit global warming to UK 1.5°C,1 as agreed in the Paris FRANCE Agreement. 1000 800 600 400 200 0 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour Electricity Emissions Electricity Coal Renewables Intensity Consumption Usage g CO2 / kWh kWh / person % coal in total power % renewables in total power 2017 Rank: 3rd last of 11 2017 Rank: 2nd last of 11 2014 Rank: 4th last of 12 2017 Rank: 3rd last of 12 USA 11 680 1000 S. Africa 960 12000 100% S. Africa 93% 50% Chile S.Africa 4% 49% AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA 750 9000 75% 38% 733 9270 62% AUSTRALIA France India France 500 6000 50% 25% 18% 47 870 2% 250 3000 25% 13% 0 0 0% 0% EU UK EU EU EU UK UK UK USA Italy USA USA USA Italy Italy Italy Chile India Chile India India India China China China China Japan Japan Japan Japan France France France France S. Africa S. S. Africa S. Africa S. Africa S. Australia Germany Australia Australia Australia Germany Germany Germany Coal Usage THE FUTURE FOR Gas Usage THE FUTURE FOR % coal in total power % gas in total power 100% COAL UNDER THE NATURAL GAS S. Africa 60% UNDER THE PARIS PARIS AGREEMENT Italy AGREEMENT 75% OECD 45% Japan AUSTRALIA PHASED-OUT GLOBAL 50% USA BY 2030 USA PEAKING 30% BY 2020s GLOBAL AUSTRALIA 25% Japan PHASED-OUT 15% GLOBAL France BY 2050 PHASED-OUT China 0% 0% BY 2050 1990 2000 2010 2020 1990 2000 2010 2020 2018 CLIMATE FACTS | ELECTRICITY 1 / 7 AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST POLLUTER IS ELECTRICITY Coal Gas Liquid Fuels Wind Solar Hydro + The power sector is the single largest Other contributor to greenhouse gas Renewables emissions, and contributes approximately one third of Australia’s total emissions. Emissions are expected to slightly decline, then stay flat to 2030, in stark contrast to the downward trajectory needed to honour the Paris Agreement 1990 - 2017 34% 1990 - 2017 257% 1990 - 2017 77% 1990 - 2017 - 1990 - 2017 - 1990 - 2017 29% commitment. 2017 - 2030 -17% 2017 - 2030 8% 2017 - 2030 -32% 2017 - 2030 128% 2017 - 2030 389% 2017 - 2030 1% ElectricityElectricity Growth rates Waste 34%34% 2% 282 Electricity Generation 242 + 16% Industrial 6% TWh/year Transport + 56% 2017 18% Fugitive 9% 155 Direct Combustion Agriculture 17% 13% Coal accounts for about 62% of electricity generation in Australia, and natural gas 20%. Renewables are at around 18%, with costs declining much 1990 2017 2030 faster than expected over the last decade, and expected to keep declining. Costs for solar photovoltaics alone have decreased by more than Electricity Carbon Emissions 50% since 2014. MtCO2/year 191 + 47% -9% 173 Current Policies 9% reduction from 2017 levels 130 Paris Agreement 1.5°C 27 Limit CO2 Emissions Pathway 1990 2017 2030 86% reduction from 2017 levels THE PARIS AGREEMENT 181 COUNTRIES WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR ELECTRICITY? HAVE RATIFIED The Paris Agreement, ratified by 181 governments, is a remarkable achievement for multilateralism and a landmark in the global fight against climate change. It aims to 1.5°C reduce the risks and impacts of climate change by holding warming to well below 2°C TEMPERATURE LIMIT and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.1 Achieving the 1.5°C limit requires rapid decarbonisation of the overall economy and WORLD ELECTRICITY every sector will need to play its part. It is widely recognised that the electricity sector DECARBONISED BEFORE can - and must - decarbonise fastest, and then help decarbonise other sectors. 2050 For the electricity sector this means that coal, as the most carbon intensive fossil fuel, needs to be phased out by around 2030 in developed countries like Australia. Natural OECD COAL EMISSIONS gas, too, faces a dwindling role and needs to peak in the 2020s and be phased out PHASED-OUT BY 2030 towards the middle of the century, if large-scale reliance on negative emissions technologies is to be limited. There are numerous options for integrating renewables that reduce - and ultimately eliminate - the need for natural gas in the power sector, WORLD NATURAL GAS including on economic grounds. The future is renewables. PEAKING BY 2020s PHASED-OUT BY 2050 2018 CLIMATE FACTS | ELECTRICITY 2 / 7 POLICY CHECKLIST Electricity is one of the key sectors in the transformation renewables and need for emissions reductions from the needed to meet Paris Agreement-goals. Many countries electricity sector. Policies to phase out coal are on the rise, across the globe are actively realising the potential of but not in Australia. NATIONAL TARGETS SPOTLIGHT ON: FOR RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY GENERATION GERMANY Renewable energy targets have long been a central mechanism behind the growth in Germany has been a pioneer and significant renewables. Strong targets give market certainty and encourage investment. driver towards renewable energy in the power sector. Germany's new government has, in Australia has a target that aims at generating 23.5% of electricity from renewables by 2018, increased its renewable energy target 2020. There is no target for 2030, nor for 2050. The government has ruled out a target from 50% to 65% by 2030. for 2030. Australia USA China Japan India Chile S. Africa France UK Germany Italy EU 2020 Targets ! ! ! ! 2030 Targets ! ! ! 2050 Targets ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! CARBON PRICING MECHANISM SPOTLIGHT ON: (CARBON TAX OR EMISSIONS TRADING SYSTEM) EU GHG Implementing a pricing mechanism on carbon allows the market to account for hidden Despite numerous flaws, the EU ETS system cost of polluting the air. Not only does an effective carbon price make the economics has operated for many years and has served as more favourable for clean technologies, it creates a powerful incentive for markets to a model many nations have learnt from, continually improve. including China. The biggest lesson: a relative scarcity of emissions permits must be maintained if an emissions market is to meet its Australia has abolished its carbon pricing mechanism in 2014. overall goals. Australia USA China Japan India Chile S. Africa France UK Germany Italy EU ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! COAL PHASE-OUT DATE SPOTLIGHT ON: OR EMISSIONS PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENT UNITED KINGDOM Direct policy such as a ban on coal based electricity or setting emissions standards on The UK government has passed a bill that will all power generation can accelerate the phase-out of coal. It is also important to make it illegal to burn coal for power establish a systematic framework to ease the transition away from coal in regions generation purposes after 2025. This is one of where coal plays an important role. the earliest phase-out dates in the world (See page 4 for more information). There is currently no policy to accelerate the phase-out of coal in Australia. Australia USA China Japan India Chile S. Africa France UK Germany Italy EU ! " ! " ! " ! " ! " ! " ! " under under consideration 2022 2025 consideration 2025 DECARBONISATION STRATEGY SPOTLIGHT ON: FOR THE ELECTRICITY SECTOR GERMANY Long-term clarity on a country’s measures to decarbonise its electricity generation and Germany has a long-term energy transition integrate variable renewables is vitally important, both for investors and successful strategy with ambitious renewable energy policy planning. targets, policies and robust monitoring, providing investor and planning certainty Australia has neither a long-term plan to decarbonise electricity generation, nor a needed for the transition. clear action plan to integrate variable renewables into the system Australia USA China Japan India Chile S. Africa France UK Germany Italy EU draft energy plan 2018 CLIMATE FACTS | ELECTRICITY 3 / 7 THERE ARE MANY REASONS TO GO RENEWABLE RELIABLE ENERGY $ SAVE MONEY SUPPLY Australian households and businesses Coal power stations are increasingly Besides dramatically reducing Australia’s are paying high electricity prices. unreliable, with almost 100 breakdowns carbon emissions and avoiding the worst Continuously falling costs of solar photo between December 2017 and June 2018 impacts of climate change, there are voltaic panels and wind will place in Australia. Ageing coal stations are many reasons to green our grids with downwards pressure on electricity increasingly expensive to operate, risk renewable energy sources and storage prices. A decarbonised energy grid will black-outs and high prices. Renewables technologies to provide clean, secure, save billions in upfront capital costs and with storage are the cheapest form of affordable and reliable electricity. It is a consumer bills, and deliver a secure ‘reliable’ energy supply, surpassing also win-win-win for people, the environment electricity system. Unsurprisingly there gas. They provide reliable generation and and the economy. is increasing (corporate) appetite to buy can ramp up even if the sun is not renewable energy directly.
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