Veolia Transport and the State Transit Authority in NSW were the only bus and coach operators to feature among the
Veolia Transport and the State Transit Authority in NSW were the only bus and coach operators to feature among the 230 organisations that have been required to submit their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions data under the National Greenhouse Energy Reporting Scheme (NGERS).
The data, covering the first year of the scheme (2008-09), only covers NGERS reports that reached the threshold of 125 kilotonnes of CO2.
According to the NGERS office, State Transit Authority emitted 137,725 t CO2-e in the period and consumed 2,178,923 GJ of energy. Veolia Transport emitted 57,732 t CO2-e and consumed 2,320,700 GJ of energy.
Other transport companies on the list – and their total greenhouse gas emissions (t CO2-e) and total energy consumption (GJ) – were:
- AA Scott: 120,151 t CO2-e; 1,754,221 GJ
- Asciano: 1,026,045 t CO2-e; 15,039,983 GJ
- Australian Postal Corporation: 94,352 t CO2-e; 2,222,073 GJ
- Linfox: 202,075 t CO2-e; 3,067,091 GJ
- Qantas: 4,007,170 t CO2-e; 58,563,182 GJ
- QR: 776,320 t CO2-e; 13,993,357 GJ
- Rail Corporation NSW: 85,128 t CO2-e; 3,673,271 GJ
- Silk Logistics Group: 137,546 t CO2-e; 2,021,122 GJ
- Toll Holdings: 409,822 t CO2-e; 6,179,331 GJ
- Transpacific Industries: 1,430,510 t CO2-e; 3,030,865 GJ
- TT-Line Company: 144,675 t CO2-e; 1,974,832 GJ
- Virgin Blue: 1,734,892 t CO2-e; 24,976,991 GJ.
Experts warns operators that the reporting threshold reduces substantially this year to the equivalent of about 9 million litres of annual diesel usage, and the facilities threshold remains at the equivalent of 2.59 million litres of annual diesel usage.
There are substantial penalties for not complying with NGERS registering and reporting requirements. An offence for non registration has a maximum penalty well in excess of $200,000 – and there are provisions for criminal and civil proceedings and infringement notices with some penalties of more than $1,000 per day for the time a breach exists.
For more on the reporting requirements – and the expanding range of tools now available to measure emissions and energy use – see the Green Transport Special Feature in the March edition of the ABC magazine, or visit the subscribe page, to subscribe and ensure you don’t miss out.