42 ENVIRONMENT | LEGAL SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY INSIGHT 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2.13 2.73 2.52 2.23 1.91 ELECTRICITY EMISSIONS Tonnes C02 -e per employee 2016 ELECTRICITY Tonnes C02 -e per employee for all firms 0.56 MINIMUM 3.43 MAXIMUM 1.64 AVERAGE Electricity generation is by far the biggest contributor to Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. In 2017 electricity generation accounted for 190 Mt of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s thirty- four percent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions. In Australian coal generation is the largest source of electricity production and it also the highest greenhouse gases emitter per unit of electricity. While there has been some improvement in the efficiency of our coal fired electricity generation it is still responsible for the majority of the 190 million tonnes of electricity emissions with smaller contributions from natural gas generators. However Australia’s solar and wind renewable electricity generation is increasing, and it has had a consistent level of hydro power contribution since the 1930’s. Electricity customers can specifically choose products that source carbon neutral renewable electricity generation for their electricity use. 2018 AusLSA Member Performance Electricity emissions represent forty-five percent of the gross emissions by AusLSA members meaning it has now slipped to the second highest source of greenhouse gas emissions with business travel taking over as leader. Emissions from electricity have decreased by thirty percent over the past five years. This year we found six of our members had reductions in excess of 100 tonnes each. The cited reasons for these reductions ranged from enhanced office equipment, office relocations and behavioural and awareness programs, rather than reduced headcount or floorspace. Energy efficient investment and changes often take time to demonstrate their full reductions in electricity use. For example, when a firm moves into a more energy efficient building it can take a year of fine tuning and analysis before the full impacts are seen. It is pleasing to see that investment in more energy efficient office equipment, office fit outs has continued and that user education is still a priority in our member firms which continues to deliver tangible financial, operational and environmental benefits. ELECTRICITY EMISSIONS