ACT abates 400,000 tonnes of emissions

Over 400,000 tonnes of the ACT’s greenhouse gas emissions were abated in 2007, according to the Chief Minster and Minister for the Environment, Water and Climate Change, Jon Stanhope.

This amounts to the most successful year since the beginning of the ACT Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme.

The scheme, which mirrors the NSW scheme, requires electricity retailers in the ACT to reduce or offset their emissions by purchasing abatement certificates. In 2007, 14% of these certificates were derived from renewable energy resources.

“Over 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions were abated in 2007, which is equivalent to taking around 95,000 cars off the road every year. This has been the most successful year of the scheme to date,” said Stanhope.

“Electricity use is the ACT's biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around 72% of all emissions, so targeting electricity production and consumption is a key step to achieving a reduction.

“The scheme has resulted in hundreds of thousands of emissions abated across the ACT and NSW and demonstrates how jurisdictions can work together to reduce emissions.

“Until a national emissions trading scheme is firmly in place, the Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme will continue to provide an effective means to abate greenhouse emissions in the ACT,” Stanhope said.