Bushfire emissions? Not counted against Net Zero, don’t you know

Australian Rural & Regional News asked some questions of the Department of Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water which are set out below, together with the department’s response.

Australian Rural & Regional News asked some questions of the Department of Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water which are set out below, together with the department’s response.

he emissions from the Black Summer bushfires alone amounted to over 800 Mt CO₂-e, close to double Australia’s entire current annual accountable GHG emissions from all sources this last year to June (437.5 Mt CO₂-e), more than five times all Australia’s Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) emissions savings for 20 years (150.6 Mt CO₂-e) and more than 16 times the country’s electricity emissions savings for 20 years (49.1 Mt CO₂-e). (It is even more than 18 months of emissions from the Ukraine war.)

Even allowing for the recovery of some of those emissions through regrowth, emissions from bushfires can dwarf reduction efforts.

But bushfire emissions don’t count towards Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. That must be a relief for those keen for Australia to be seen to be reducing or at least managing its emissions, especially in the light of the bad bushfire season over the summer of 2025-2026.

However, perversely, prescribed burning and other land management done to minimise bushfire risk does count towards Australia’s emissions inventory.