We conduct public interest financial analysis on the most profound economic transformation since the industrial revolution: the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.

That 60% margin is not only unsustainable as the market shifts away from “dig and ship” to more sophisticated solutions. China will simply not allow it to continue, according to Tim Buckley, the director of Climate Energy Finance, an independent Australian think-tank. “At the end of the day, the bigger question is, does China allow [mining companies] BHP and Rio [Tinto] and Hancock to keep making obscene rates of return if they’re not investing in solutions that China wants?” Buckley told Dialogue Earth. “No business sector sustainably generates 60% returns on capital employed … if there isn’t a perfect moat around your business.” Could that moat be about to be breached? Read more

Tim Buckley, director of think tank Climate Energy Finance and a former managing director of global investment bank Citigroup, said “this iteration of the Coalition’s energy policy pamphlet belongs in the bin fire with every previous iteration”. “This will make the 2028 federal election yet another referendum on whether Australia will stay in alignment with the global consensus of the Paris Agreement and the climate science,” Buckley said. Read more

For Tim Buckley, Director of Climate Energy Finance, community engagement is not a box to tick at the end of a project. It is fundamental to overcoming the approval barriers that are currently slowing investment in Australia’s renewable energy infrastructure. “Building social licence is critical to reducing the approvals roadblocks that are massively undermining the much-needed step-up in renewable energy infrastructure investments across Australia,” Buckley says. For Buckley, the case for accelerating the transition has become even stronger as global geopolitical instability highlights the importance of energy independence. Read more