A few days before a major UN climate summit, COP24, held in Poland, former Liberal minister Amanda Vanstone claimed "emissions are coming down" in Australia. Others have contradicted her, saying emissions are rising. RMIT ABC Fact Check found Ms Vanstone's claim is misleading. Latest federal government figures suggest that although greenhouse gas emissions have fallen over the past 10 years, emissions started trending upwards again about four years ago. The upturn, since 2014, coincided with the Abbott government's removal of the carbon tax. Also, while emissions from electricity production have been falling, the decrease has been outweighed over the past four years by rising emissions in other sectors of the economy, such as transport, where emissions are associated with increased LNG production for export. Emissions can be measured in different ways: for example, as total emissions or emissions per capita or per GDP. In the past year, Australia's total emissions have been rising. But emissions per capita or per dollar of real GDP have been falling, mainly due to Australia's rapid population growth. However, it is worth noting that Australia's progress in cutting emissions under its international obligations (the Paris Agreement) is measured by changes in total emissions rather than by other measures.
Verdict: Misleading