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Somewhere in the world, the Covid-19 pandemic is still at its peak. It's July 2021. Schools, transport, work and fun are all disrupted by social distancing rules and lockdowns. Where is this place that's still in the past? Australia's greenhouse gas inventory. Let me explain. Quarterly v Annual reports Yes, last week's briefing looked at Australia's emissions to June this year. But while we're grateful for small mercies, the quarterly emissions report that we covered was a macro summary of

Our data journalist, James, doesn't mince words. ‘That is a very boring chart’, he said about our visualisation of Australia's gross emissions. What do you think? Let's unpack it while reviewing Australia's quarterly greenhouse gas update, which was released a couple of weeks ago. Headline Numbers First, here's some context for that chart, above. It shows gross emissions. That means total emissions we put into the atmosphere before any removals. The chart below shows Australia's net

Last week, we looked at rooftop solar units by postcode and found patterns based on location. I.e. Where is all the rooftop solar in Australia? (TLDR: Rural and regional areas generally have more per capita). Today, we're looking at other characteristics that define those postcodes. I.e. Who has all the rooftop solar? Let's take a look. Primer The charts below are scatter charts that compare two or more variables. Each dot represents a postcode in Australia. The y-axis is the same on all c

The word 'exponential' means more than reeeally fast growth. It means growth that's so fast, it's multiplying at a constant rate over time. The world's solar capacity is doubling every three years. That's exponential growth. In Australia, rooftop solar installations* hit 3.85 million in June. You can access the monthly data easily here and use the geolocation dropdown in the top-right corner to drill into your state or territory. As I mentioned last week, we've added solar installations by po

Spring has sprung, and with it, the hibernating climate data briefing emerges into the sunshine! I've returned from a brief journey in the wilderness (both figurative and literal) and am happy to be home and writing to you again. Let's pick up exactly where we left off some weeks ago — WIND ENERGY. Is it reasonable for us to believe we'll hit our targets? Reading time: 5 mins Recap Wind powers 10-15% of the national electricity market. (You can check this daily using our Energy dashboard a

Australia has promised to triple its renewable energy capacity. In an earlier briefing, we found: 1. Australia's renewable energy capacity in 2022 was 49 gigawatts (GW) 2. Tripling that baseline means 147 GW in 2030 (we're awaiting confirmation on this figure and thank you to the subscriber who is helping) 3. While our current rate of building renewables capacity is impressive, it is not fast enough to hit that target Today, we ask the next question: what do we need to believe will happen t

We’ve published a new section on OnlyFacts that focuses on energy, which tracks the transition to renewables in Australia's domestic electricity systems. A few highlights: Daily updates The energy data is updated every morning at around 4am AEST with the previous day’s data. Comparisons * Never miss the daily data and trends showing our electricity fuel mix. * Compare countries and Australian states and territories in the race to renewables. Most relevant data drilldowns * Easily trac

One of the big agreements from COP28 was the pledge to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030. Let's bite off two pieces: details of the promise and where we're headed if nothing changes. Later, we'll look at what we must believe will happen to hit the targets, and leading indicators. Let's dive in. Unpack the promise The pledge is to triple the world's installed renewable energy generation capacity to at least 11,000 GW by 2030. There were 124 signatories. One thing to call out is China di