NGERs Reporting

National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme (NGERS)

The NGERS report has been prepared using the Online System for Comprehensive Activity Reporting (OSCAR) under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (NGER). The NGER is a national framework for reporting information regarding greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gas projects, and energy use and production.

Under the Act there are two levels of thresholds which corporations are required to report on, these are vehicle emissions which are listed as Scope 1 and electricity which is listed as Scope 2. It should be noted other emission listed under Scope 3 are not mandatory to report and have not been included by UWS. The carbon footprint refers to the sum of greenhouse gases produced by a product, service or organisation and is measured as tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tC02-e). This measurement can be used as a 'baseline' for future emission reporting.

Results

The University of Western Sydney (UWS) consumed 215,869 GJ of energy and emitted 41,324 tonnes of greenhouse gases between 2011-2012. UWS carbon emissions have decreased by 3.3 % in 2011/12 from 2010/11. Parramatta Campus has seen a 19% reduction in electricity emissions and a 61% reduction in gas emissions over the same period due to the implementation of a comprehensive energy efficiency program.

It is evident that the electricity is the highest contributor to the universities carbon footprint. Although fleet emissions for UWS are quite low in comparison they still play a huge role in environmental impacts such as air pollution and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Both of these sources present the biggest opportunity for emission reductions at UWS.