Australian greenhouse gases barely hit by carbon price Australia's greenhouse gas emissions were little changed in the first year of the carbon price, as emissions from sectors only partly covered by the tax nullified most of the cuts. Emissions for the 12 months to June totalled 545.9 million tonnes, 300,000 tonnes lower than a year earlier, the government's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory figures say. Emissions reductions from power plants fell, accelerating to an annual drop of 6.3 per cent - or cutting 12.2 million tonnes - from a 6.1 per cent slide in the 12 months to March. About 2.6 percentage points of the drop was a result of dwindling consumer demand, with a shift from black coal-fired power generators to hydro and wind sources accounting for most of the rest. As foreshadowed by previous quarterly figures, reductions from the power sector were partly countered by a surge in so-called fugitive emissions from the fast-growing gas processing and coal industries. Those jumped 11.4 per cent in the year to June, or 4.5 million tonnes, with emitters able to access either free permits or compensation to help avoid most of the carbon cost. Annual transport and agriculture emissions, also only partly covered by the carbon price, rose 2.8 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively. A partial leak of the data earlier this week - showing only the flat total amount - was used by the Coalition to step up pressure on Labor and the Greens to pass the carbon tax repeal bills in the Senate before Christmas. The push failed, and the bills will return to the Senate for a vote next year. "This (inventory) information flies in the face of Tony Abbott's attempt to bully the Senate into agreeing to scrap an effective climate change policy this week, without having a credible alternative," said a spokesman for opposition environment spokesman Mark Butler. Environment Minister Greg Hunt, who wants to introduce a so-called direct action plan to pay companies to cut emissions, insists the carbon price has been ineffective. "The Coalition has always said that the carbon tax doesn't work," Mr Hunt said. It's an economy-wide electricity tax that causes a lot of pain but doesn't clean up the environment. The emissions total excludes changes to land use, such as deforestation. Separate figures show emissions from deforestation rose by 5 million tonnes, or 11.7 per cent, to 48.2 million tonnes in the 2012-13 year.