Key findings
- Despite spending billions of dollars on the ‘energy transition’, Australia was still reliant on hydrocarbon fuels (i.e., coal, gas, and oil) for more than 90 per cent of its energy consumption in 2023-24. Solar and wind provided just 4.8 per cent of all Australia’s energy needs.
- In the first two years of the Albanese government, the growth in the energy consumption from hydrocarbon fuels was double the growth in ‘renewable’ alternative energy consumption.
- As a share of Australian energy consumption, hydrocarbon fuel declined only marginally, from 91.2 per cent in 2021-22 to 90.7 per cent in 2023-24.
- This has not been due to the take up of alternative energy sources, but due to the decline of energy consumed by the manufacturing sector.
- In the first two years of the Albanese government, energy consumption in the manufacturing sector declined by 10.4 per cent, or 5.2 per cent per annum. In contrast, the average annual decline in energy consumed by the manufacturing sector between 2000-01 and 2021-22 was just 0.6 per cent.
Figure 1: Manufacturing sector energy consumption, 2000-01 to 2023-24
