Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg concedes Australia's greenhouse gas pollution continued to soar last year, confirming that more than a decade of climate policy bickering has failed to curb harmful emissions.
Official data shows Australia's annual emissions have risen for the fourth year running. They were up by 0.7 per cent in the year to June 2017, to 550 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The alarming figures come ahead of a critical few months for the Turnbull government as it seeks to convince the states and territories to sign off on its signature climate policy, the national energy guarantee - a measure that Labor says will fail to sufficiently rein in emissions.
The data, released last month, also casts serious doubt on Australia's ability to meet its international obligations under the Paris climate accord.
Australia recorded its third-warmest year on record in 2017 - continuing a trend of warmer temperatures that the Bureau of Meteorology has linked to climate change.
The latest quarterly update of Australia's national greenhouse gas inventory showed last year's emissions were only marginally lower than the 554 million tonnes produced in 2000, despite years of fierce climate policy debate in the intervening years.
Emissions levels have fluctuated since the turn of the millennium, but have risen steadily since 2013.
Speaking on ABC Radio on Thursday, Mr Frydenberg was repeatedly pressed to admit Australia's emissions rose last year, and eventually conceded "that is true".
But he said those figures were calculated on a yearly basis, and "if you look at the last quarter they went down, if you look at the trend it is improving".
Mr Frydenberg said June quarter figures showed emissions went down by 0.6 per cent, and that emissions on a per capita and GDP basis were at "their lowest in 28 years".
"What you need to focus on here is what is happening in different aspects of the economy as a result of policies we are putting in place," he said.
"What we are seeing is real improvements in various aspects of the economy."
Mr Frydenberg pointed to the national energy productivity plan which aims to boost energy efficiency in the built environment by 40 per cent, and the emissions reduction fund, focused on agriculture and the land sector, which has abated up to 190 million tonnes of carbon dioxide at an average cost of $12 a tonne.
The Department of the Environment and Energy's own modelling projects that by 2020, Australia's total emissions will be slightly higher than current levels, at 551 million tonnes. It said the rapid expansion of the liquefied natural gas sector was a major factor in emissions growth, however this was partly offset by falling emissions in the electricity sector.
Mr Frydenberg on Thursday said the government's national energy guarantee, announced in October, was "the most effective way" to cut emissions.
It forces energy companies to meet mandated standards of reliability and emissions reduction, but critics say it thwarts growth in renewable energy, props up ageing coal-fired power plants and will fail to sufficiently drive down emissions.
Labor has heavily criticised the plan and energy spokesman Mark Butler said on Wednesday the "only detail that has been released is modelling showing cuts to large-scale renewable investment".
Mr Butler said former prime minister Tony Abbott "vandalised" the nation's climate change policies - a reference to the abolition of Labor's so-called carbon tax in 2014 - and "unsurprisingly we have seen carbon pollution levels rise ever since".
He said the government's own data "projects that with their policy position in place, carbon pollution levels will continue to rise between now and 2030" - the date set for Australia to meet its emissions reduction commitments under the Paris deal.
Mr Frydenberg said the independent energy security board was undertaking detailed design work on the national energy guarantee. In April it would be presented to the COAG energy council, which must unanimously sign off on the policy.
