Energy analyst Tim Buckley is director of think tank Climate Energy Finance and said the battle for Korea Zinc, the world’s largest zinc refiner, was globally significant. “To me it looks like two Korean families who have cooperated together for a long time and now there is a divergence of views and one of the Korean families has brought in one of the most successful Korean private equity firms, MBK, to come in and buy control,” he said. But Mr Buckley said it was simply too soon to predict ramifications on the move towards “green” zinc in Australia and Ark Energy’s renewable energy projects. “There is a fear that the company could go through a major strategic pivot, but to some degree we’re incidental to the central game plan in Korea,” he said. Read more

“Australia is never going to be able to compete on our own against the Chinese, the robotics, the artificial intelligence, the scale of their manufacturing, their phenomenal investments in research and development, all of that says we’ll never catch them,” says Tim Buckley. “But we don’t have to catch them; we can partner with them”. Read more

The director of Climate Energy Finance, Tim Buckley, said while Australia was right to court capital from the UAE for the green energy transition, it was also important to keep expectations in check. “I welcome collaboration with UAE, but we have to be realistic about how much money they might pour into Australia,” he said. “Particularly as the UAE is already emerging as a competitor for Australia in clean energy, because it has a big pool of capital for projects and an abundance of wind and solar, like us.” Mr Buckley said the truly “massive” commercial opportunities for Australia still lay in collaborating with major economies in the region like China and Japan to assist their decarbonisation progress. Read more

The flaws in the Adani Godda power plant agreement have been widely documented in international media as well. Tim Buckley, a leading energy expert, told The Washington Post in 2022 that Bangladesh would pay over five times the country’s average wholesale electricity price for power from Adani’s plant. Even if coal prices revert to pre-Ukraine war levels, Bangladesh would still be paying 33 percent more for Adani’s electricity compared to its domestic coal-based power plants. Buckley described this contract as “an absolute gouge” and questioned how any reasonable person could have signed such a detrimental deal on behalf of Bangladesh. Read more

As China’s construction slump and steel glut bite, the chairman of government-owned China Baowu Group, the world’s largest steelmaker, has warned China’s steel sector will enter a “severe winter” more challenging than even the major downturns experienced during the GFC of 2008. This spells trouble for iron ore. Australia is the world’s largest iron ore exporter, and it is our number one commodity export, with over 80% going to China. The benchmark iron ore price has fallen below $US100/tonne, while prices for metallurgical coal used in steelmaking have dropped by a third to US$202/t in just 2 months. Read more

Distributed internationally via AFP – Australia remains one of the world’s leading exporters of coal and gas and has relied heavily on fossil fuels to keep the lights on. But climate finance expert Tim Buckley said August’s record figures were caused by wild weather and a warm start to the spring, which had reduced demand on the grid by up to 20 percent. “It’s a historically low coal share for Australia in the national energy market, but it’s also a sign of where we are going,” Buckley told AFP. “It will only be a few years from now that coal is contributing virtually nothing,” he added. Read more

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has released its latest Electricity Statement of Opportunities (ESOO), painting an optimistic picture of Australia’s energy future. The report suggests that with continued investment in new renewable and storage projects, the nation can successfully transition beyond coal-fired power generation. Tim Buckley, Director of Climate Energy Finance, highlighted that AEMO’s forecasts show power supply reliability can be maintained over most of the next 10 years, provided that established programs and initiatives are delivered on time. Read more

The global dynamic in the energy transition focuses on Australia, Europe or the US, with occasional reference to China. The capacity and deployment stats coming out of China are staggering, and not well reported. The good news is there is indeed a clear and consistent voice on China, based here in Australia. Tim Buckley from Climate Energy Finance is a banking analyst with deep experience on the rise and rise of China in solar, wind, batteries and EVs. Tim follows the data points closely and observes trends not cutting through elsewhere. Read more

Tim Buckley speaks on ABC Victoria Radio on AEMO’s 2024 ESOO and continued investment into renewable energy to ensure a stable and secure electricity grid. Read more

Tim Buckley speaks with Sky News on transitioning our economy away from fossil fuels that Australia has had a historical over reliance on, and into zero emissions technology, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visit to the Pacific and the urgent need to end coal and gas. Tim also speaks on massive profitability of Australia’s iron ore majors, and the lack of urgency from Australia’s corporates to address the climate emergency. Read more

CWP Global has revealed that the BP-majority owned 26GW Australian Renewable Energy Hub Project (AREH), located in the iron-ore rich Pilbara region of Western Australia, has had its Major Project Status renewed by the Australian government. Critical to the success of the project will be federal and WA government support for Pilbara Green Link transmission lines to enable the mining sector’s best use of one of the most scaleable renewable energy resources anywhere in the country, CWP added. A recent report by Climate Energy Finance estimates that Australia has the potential to double the value of its annual iron exports to AUS$250bn. Read more

As SunCable gains environmental approvals from the NT Government and the Federal Government, The Australian promoting an earlier interview with Tim Buckley on Sky News in 2023 on SunCable detailing the events of SunCable’s voluntary administration. “At the end of the day, this is a very, very challenging project proposal – it’s a world first,” Mr Buckley told Sky News Australia. “A world-leading project needs to actually have sufficient government endorsement.” Read more