The land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector includes forest lands, croplands, grasslands, settlements, and harvested wood products (i.e. wood products consumed but not yet disposed to a waste stream).
Queensland’s LULUCF sector emissions have shown large fluctuations since 1990 but have trended downwards since 2005.
- In 2022, emissions were -15.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e). In 1990, emissions were 10.1 MtCO2e.
- In 2005, emissions were 66.2 MtCO2e.
Land use emissions are the most variable emission source in Queensland and Australia’s greenhouse gas accounts due to:
- fluctuations in land clearing rates
- time lags in emissions
- the effect of climate variability, such as droughts and wet spells.
Queensland has joined other Australian jurisdictions, whereby LULUCF acts as a carbon sink.
- Reduced grassland conversion (a proxy for land clearing) drove the emissions reduction trend in LULUCF. Emissions reduced from 52.2 Mt CO2-e in 2005 to -3.9 MtCO2-e in 2022 due to reduced clearing activities.
- Grasslands, forest land, and harvested wood products are carbon sinks, while croplands, wetlands and settlements remain carbon sources.
- Emissions have declined from the land use sector since 1990 due to increases in carbon sinks through forest regrowth (on previously cleared land) and declines in forest land cleared to grasslands for agricultural purposes.
- Since 1990, on seven separate occasions, emissions fell by greater than 10 MtCO2e between two consecutive years.
Note: These estimates are based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change classification system used to report Australia’s GHG emissions inventory under UNFCCC guidelines. Previous State of Environment LULUCF reporting was based on the Kyoto Protocol accounting method.
