Australia produces more than 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide in generating
power for each person per year, compared with 9 tonnes for Americans and
2 tonnes for the Chinese.

The new database, called CARMA, Carbon Monitoring for Action, has been
compiled by the Washington-based Center for Global Development, an
independent think tank on issues related to global development.

Australia ranks seventh in the world in terms of its total carbon
dioxide emissions from power stations, well ahead of countries such as
Italy, Britain, France and South Korea.

The power and environment general manager for Victorian energy company
Loy Yang Power, Richard Elkington, said the result was hardly surprising
considering 85 per cent of Australia's electricity generation comes from
coal.

He said the industry was working towards cutting emissions by drying
brown coal, making processing more efficient and capturing and storing
carbon after it was emitted.

"There is a lot happening but the volumes of material we are dealing
with are high and no one really doubts the challenge," he said.

He said there was genuine bipartisan support at state and federal level
for the development of clean coal technology. "In the absence of
nuclear, what is really the alternative?" he said.

The two biggest producers of carbon dioxide in Australia are the
Bayswater and Eraring power stations in NSW, which each produce 18.325
million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

These rank equal 44th in terms of their carbon dioxide emissions
globally, but their carbon dioxide intensity — that is carbon dioxide to
power output — is comparable to many of the power stations in China,
which are often criticised for being "dirty" plants.

The next three biggest polluting power stations in Australia are Loy
Yang A in Traralgon(13.3 million tonnes); Liddell in the Hunter Valley
in NSW (13.15 million tonnes); and Gladstone in Queensland (10.7 million
tonnes).

The single biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions is the
Taiching plant in Taiwan, a coal-fired plant that produces twice the
power of the top plants in Australia, although with considerably less
greenhouse gas intensity, according to the CARMA website.

The creator of the database, Dr David Wheeler, said it highlighted that
high emissions from countries like the US and Australia were not just a
reflection of their living standards but also of their energy policies.