Oped written by CEF’s China Energy Policy Analyst Xuyang Dong and Ember’s climate strategy advisor Chris Wright on China’s recent methane emissions reduction action plan. China’s recent methane action plan is a game-changer in the global effort to combat emissions. With commitments in its 2026-2030 Five-Year Plan, China is taking a lead in the methane reduction race. This announcement underscores Australia’s lag in implementing a clear methane action plan, despite being a significant emitter. As COP28 approaches, the diplomatic significance and China’s track record of exceeding targets highlight the urgent need for global methane reduction. Read more

Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned Australia could fail to meet its emissions targets without drastic change, and green refining of minerals before shipping overseas could be part of the solution. Tim Buckley told ABC that we need to get out of the mentality of Australia’s traditional dig-and-ship model. Now is the perfect opportunity to permanently rebuild manufacturing and refining capacity onshore. And we need to move faster with more ambition. We should build out capacity within the coming decade instead of 2050, before other countries have already established their own supply chains, or we will permanently miss out. Read more

Tim Buckley told ABC TV that we need to find alternatives to our dig and ship model, eg. do more value-adding refining of our resources onshore. By doing so, Australia can help our trade partners by exporting embodied decarbonisation. Buckley also said Jim Chalmers’ major address on Australia’s green energy and energy transition materials opportunity was overly cautious, and Australia’s response to the IRA should be tailored by Australia’s context and the huge scale of opportunity we have here to lead the world. Read more

The Albanese government has dumped plans to release a comprehensive US-style green energy industrial policy this year. Instead of meeting a pledge in last May’s budget to develop a plan before Christmas, Labor ministers are now working to a revised timeline that would see a more comprehensive response to Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) around the 2024 budget, in about six months. Tim Buckley told AFR that “they need to provide a policy framework. At the end of the day, when America throws $1 trillion on the table in subsidies, and you’re competing against China, when you leave it to the free market you miss out.”“We need to get more projects off the ground, faster.” “The government is moving in the right direction but not fast enough, and they don’t have the political mandate to act with the courage they really need.” Read more

Victoria’s State Electricity Commission (SEC) has been reintroduced in a move that is hoped will crowd-in investment into renewables in the state. Tim Buckley told FS Sustainability that some are concerned that public capital may crowd out private capital. “The key challenge that the SEC has to actually work to crowd in private capital,” Buckley said. “I think that risk is real, but it’s more than outweighed by the benefits to the people of Victoria.” He sees renewables as a “solution to the cost-of-living crisis, the energy crisis and the climate crisis… More competition means more supply and lower prices.” Read more

Origin’s vertical integration business model is key to the Brookfield acquisition bid, according to Tim Buckley. He said that the retail and industrial client base was key to Brookfield both in the Origin bid and in the 2022 bid for AGL led by Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures and Brookfield. “All of this is predicated on the value of the retail customer base that Origin and AGL have,” Buckley noted. “That customer base is about vertical integration and industrial customers as well. “The key asset for Origin is they have the best retail technology platform in the world.” Read more

Tim Buckley told ABC News that the $2bn announcement by the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese into the sector through low-interest loans for miners and processors is a token response. The US has put US$1,000bn on the table to drive investment in the decarbonisation. Australian government needs to place $100bn public capital support to crowd in the decarbonisation sector, as we need to respond at the speed and scale to the size of the opportunity. Read more

Tim Buckley told ABC news that tens of billions of dollars would be needed to set up an onshore renewable battery industry in Australia, to develop the entire supply chain in Australia from critical minerals, to processing and batter assembly, and ideally EV assembly in Australia as well. Read more

Northern Beaches Advocate reports: Climate and Energy analyst Tim Buckley (image above, right) said Australia had a potentially world leading role to play in the decarbonisation of global economy. “Right now Australia is a ‘petrostate’ and we are one of the top three exporters of fossil fuels in the world. However, we are uniquely positioned to become a world leader in the clean economy — if we get the policy settings right.” Read more

Tim Buckley welcomes the NSW government to legislate climate change targets, he argues that throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at Eraring power station is the wrong decision, and the environment can’t afford the delay of the closure of Eraring. Read more

Green Central Bank reports: Singapore’s central bank wants to incentivise the phasing out of coal plants with carbon credits and replace it with transition credits towards renewable energy. Tim Buckley said “while carbon credits are good for developing longer term transition plans, they are subject to investor and industry manipulation which could “over-inflate the cost of avoided emissions” Read more

Wong’s team was determined to get the relationship back on track. As the first female foreign minister of Chinese-Malaysian heritage, Wong understands how Australian multiculturalism can influence and shape a highly diverse new world order, notes Xuyang Dong from the Sydney-based think tank Climate Energy Finance Read more