We conduct public interest financial analysis on the most profound economic transformation since the industrial revolution: the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
About
Climate Energy Finance (CEF) is a think tank established in 2022 that works probono in the public interest to accelerate decarbonisation. We conduct research and analyses on global financial issues related to the global energy transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, as well as the implications for the Australian economy, with a key focus on the threats and opportunities for Australian investments and exports. Read more
Our Work
AGL | CEF NEWS UPDATES | CEF SERIES ON CRITICAL MINERALS | China | Coal/electricity/electrification | Critical minerals | Decarbonisation | Energy Crisis | Finance Sector & Emissions | Green Iron | Hydrogen | India & Adani | Monthly China Energy Updates | Nuclear | Submissions | Taxes & subsidies | US IRA/ NZIA et al |
REPORT | GREEN CAPITAL TSUNAMI: China’s >$100 billion outbound cleantech investment since 2023 turbocharges global energy transition
CEF’s news report shows that a green capital tsunami of investments from China into cleantech around the world is speeding decarbonisation, but Australia, with its opaque foreign investment regime, is missing out, as investment hit a multidecade low last year, forgoing its massive opportunity to co-invest with China in clean energy-powered onshore value-adding, including green iron. Read more
MONTHLY CHINA ENERGY UPDATE | Increasing Electricity Demand Showcasing China’s Economic Resilience
During the first 8 months of 2024, China added 210GW of new capacity to the grid, a 14% y-o-y increase. August alone saw China add 25.1GW of new capacity additions. From January to August 2024, China spent RMB333bn (US$47bn) on power grid projects, a 19% y-o-y increase. In August alone, China invested RMB79bn (US$11bn) in the power grid. From January to August in 2024, China’s electricity demand increased by 7% y-o-y, reaching 6,456TWh. This is a sign of China’s continued economic resilience and as a result of the country’s continuous electrification-of-everything strategy. CEF expects China’s electricity demand to continue to climb in the coming decade. Read more
WA Government to Accelerate Electrification and Decarbonisation with Priority Common User Infrastructure Corridors
In a landmark for accelerating electrification and decarbonisation of the Pilbara, Australia’s resources engine room, the WA Government’s Pilbara Energy Transition (PET) Plan has announced the development of priority common user infrastructure (CUI) corridors in the region. Read more
Media
AGL China Coal Critical minerals Decarbonisation Electricity/electrification Energy crisis Finance Sector & Emissions Green Iron/Steel Hydrogen India & Adani Nuclear offshore wind Renewables Taxes and subsidies US IRA/EU NZIA et al
Chinese Firms Pour Billions Into Green-Energy Tsunami
Wall Street Journal
“China’s growing domination of cleantech manufacturing and export supply chains is clearly a geopolitical issue the U.S. and the Western world can’t continue to ignore,” said Tim Buckley and Annemarie Jonson at Sydney-based think tank Climate Energy Finance. “It is far from a secure, sustainable position for any country to dominate 80% to 90% of global market supply of anything,” they told The Wall Street Journal after CEF released a report on the surge in China’s outbound foreign direct investment into clean energy. Read more
China’s green tech investment tsunami could lap Australian shores, report says
The Guardian
[On the Guardian blog] There’s no doubt China has grabbed market leadership in many of the technologies we need to decarbonise our economies, from solar panels and wind turbines to electric vehicles and the batteries that power them. Australia stands to benefit from those advances and potentially from soaring outbound investment in low-emissions technology, according to a new report by Climate Energy Finance, out today. Since 2023, US$100bn (A$145bn) of Chinese investment has poured out of China into at least 100 deals, a flow of funds that Australia has partly benefitted from, with more to come, the report finds. A 1.4 gigawatt windfarm with a big battery is one such project. Read more
[On AIM] $100 Billion since 2023: Australia missing out on China’s massive Outbound Green Capital Tsunami
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While private Chinese investment into Australia seriously lags, there are unparalleled opportunities for Australia-China collaboration in zero-emissions industries – if we get the policy settings right. A new report by independent think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF), Green capital tsunami: China’s >$100 bn outbound cleantech investment since 2023 turbocharges global energy transition, calculates that Chinese firms have committed >US$100bn in outbound foreign investment since 2023. This has spanned decarbonisation sectors including solar, wind, batteries, grid, new energy vehicles (NEV), hydro and green hydrogen, as China’s world-leading corporates increasingly “go global”. Read more
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