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We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the sovereign Traditional Owners of Australia and thank them for their stewardship of this Country, its lands, waters and skies. We respectfully acknowledge their culture and customary practices, and pay respect to their Ancestors, Elders and future leaders.

For the first time, the State of the Environment report includes a strong Indigenous narrative across all 12 thematic chapters, a narrative crafted through recognising the leadership, collaboration and authorship of Indigenous Australians who continue their connection as Traditional Owners to their lands, waters and skies.

Click to view the State of the Environment report

 

On 28 March 2025 the government assumed a Caretaker role. Information on websites maintained by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water will be published in accordance with the Guidance on Caretaker Conventions until after the conclusion of the caretaker period.

Due to technical issues, graphs, maps and tables are currently not displaying within the main content, however, are available via the chapter resources navigation bar. We are working on a solution to resolve the issue.

Graphs, maps and tables

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Figure 11 Mercury emitted to the atmosphere from Australian industry, 2009–19
Figure 12 NO2 concentrations in Australia’s most populous cities, expressed as the 99th percentile of the maximum daily 1-hour NO2 measurement
Figure 13 Ozone concentrations in the major Australian cities: (a) 95th percentile 4-hour averages; (b) maximum 4-hour averages, 1999–2019
Figure 14 Box-and-whisker plots of the trend in 4-hour ozone in the 4 largest capital cities, 2009–19
Four box and whisker plots showing that ozone concentrations in all places have usually been between good and very good, and often been better than very good. On average, Brisbane has been better than Melbourne which has been better than Perth which has

ppb = parts per billion

Notes:

  1. Blue, green and yellow lines indicate the limits of the ‘very good’, ‘good’ and ‘fair’ air quality categories for ozone, respectively.
  2. Boxes represent the 25th, 50th and 75th quartiles, while the whiskers represent the 75th percentile (or 25th percentile) plus (minus) 1.5 × the interquartile range. Outliers outside the whisker values have been removed for ease of comparison, but the maximum 4-hour ‘outliers’ are those reported in Figure 13.
For more information, go toOutdoor air quality
Figure 15 Atmospheric emissions of (a) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and (b) polychlorinated dioxins and furans in the Australian National Pollutant Inventory, 2009–19
Figure 16 SO2 emitted from Port Pirie (South Australia) and Mount Isa (Queensland), 2009–19
Figure 17 95th percentile of the 24-hour average PM10 concentrations, 1999–2019: (a) Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth; (b) Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra
Figure 18 Box-and-whisker plots of the trend in 24-hour PM10 in the 4 largest capital cities, 2009–19
Four box and whisker plots showing that PM10 concentrations in all places have usually been close to very good, and often better than very good.

μg/m3 = microgram per cubic metre; PM10 = coarse particulate matter

Notes:

  1. Blue, green and yellow lines indicate the limits of the ‘very good’, ‘good’ and ‘fair’ air quality categories for PM10, respectively.
  2. Boxes represent the 25th, 50th and 75th quartiles, while the whiskers represent the 75th percentile (or 25th percentile) plus (minus) 1.5 × the interquartile range. Outliers outside the whisker values have been removed for ease of comparison, but the 95th percentile ‘outliers’ are those reported in Figure 17.
For more information, go toOutdoor air quality
Figure 19 Maximum 24-hour average PM2.5 concentrations, 1999–2019: (a) Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth; (b) Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra
A pair of line graphs showing that concentrations in all cities other than Adelaide have usually been above the NEPM standard, and often far above in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Canberra rose to very high levels in 2019 during a severe fire sea

μg/m3 = microgram per cubic metre; NEPM = National Environment Protection Measure; PM2.5 = fine particulate matter

Notes:

  1. The y axes of these plots have different scales.
  2. Very high average concentrations (above 150 μg/m3) for 2009 have been removed for Brisbane and Sydney; these relate to the major dust storms of 2009, which are categorised as extreme events. In subsequent years, an additional clause in the NEPM reporting allows for these extreme events to be removed.
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For more information, go toOutdoor air quality
Figure 20 Box-and-whisker plots of the trend in 24-hour PM2.5 in the 4 largest capital cities, 2009–19
Four box and whisker plots showing that PM2.5 concentrations in all places have usually been close to very good, and often better than very good, especially in Brisbane.

μg/m3 = microgram per cubic metre; PM2.5 = fine particulate matter

  1. Quinns Rock site was temporarily decommissioned between March 2017 and May 2020 due to redevelopment work undertaken by the council. Therefore, data for 2009–14 are from Quinns Rock, but data for 2015–19 are from nearby Southlake.

Notes:

  1. Blue, green and yellow lines indicate the limits of the ‘very good’, ‘good’ and ‘fair’ air quality categories for PM2.5, respectively.
  2. Boxes represent the 25th, 50th and 75th quartiles, while the whiskers represent the 75th percentile (or 25th percentile) plus (minus) 1.5 × the interquartile range. Outliers outside the whisker values have been removed for ease of comparison, but the maximum ‘outliers’ are those reported in Figure 19.
For more information, go toOutdoor air quality