Media

“Just staggering,” wrote Tim Buckley, head of Climate and Energy Finance. “China installed 92.9GW of solar and 26.3GW of wind in just the month on May 2025! “ Before we get too excited, there is a pull-forward on installs with a national strategic policy change on renewables that took effect from June 2025 – so we see a real risk of a significant slowdown for the rest of 2025. Read more

The weekend saw a seismic escalation in the conflict in the Middle East, as the US bombed Iran’s key uranium enrichment facilities. This followed Israel’s campaign of military intervention on the justification that Iran must be prevented from developing nuclear capabilities. The situation represents a dramatic increase in geopolitical instability in the region – a key source of global fossil fuel energy production and exports – and has potentially dire consequences for worldwide energy markets and economies dependent on imports for their energy needs. Australia is one such economy. Read more

China leads the world by a huge and growing margin across almost all of the frontiers of our decarbonised future, from sophisticated clean tech manufacturing to domestic renewable energy installations to foreign direct investment into the energy transition. In April alone, China installed over 45GW of solar power capacity, more than Australia’s entire solar fleet. Read more

The Highlights * Tim’s TED X Sydney * Net-Zero Export Target Proposal: ANU’s Frank Jotzo and Annette Zou * Heavy Equipment Decarbonisation: BHP signs MoU with China’s XCMG * China’s Cleantech Outbound Investment (OFDI): China building cleantech infrastructure abroad (e.g., 10GWh EV battery plant in France for Renault). $170B tracked in cleantech OFDI since 2023 Read more

On a recent delegation, I saw the futuristic factory of solar giant Longi in Jiaxing, with its omnipresent robots, combining automation, big data, AI and 5G to flexibly customise solar module components for diverse application scenarios and customers, revolutionising advanced manufacturing at massive scale. This is not an isolated case. China leads the world by a huge and growing margin across almost all of the frontiers of our decarbonised future, from sophisticated clean tech manufacturing to domestic renewable energy installations to foreign direct investment into the energy transition. Read more

Electricity prices in South East Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales are set to rise from 1 July, with NSW seeing an 8–10% increase under the Default Market Offer (DMO). Some providers, such as Momentum Energy, are raising rates by up to 25%. Energy Minister Chris Bowen will today announce a review of the DMO, aiming to prioritise public interest over energy company profits. Tim Buckley, Director of Climate Energy Finance, criticised the current system, urging consumers to shop around annually to avoid a “loyalty tax”. While reforms are expected next year, households will face higher prices in the meantime. Read more

Electrification and decarbonization are key global themes in 2025, as are rapidly changing geopolitical circumstances. While some countries are abrogating their global commitments to act on climate science while upending world trade, there is also a growing interest in re-aligning towards countries and regions keen to pursue enhanced cooperation and collaboration. As the environmental and economic costs of climate change continue to rise, both the economics and energy independence benefits of the 28th session of the Conference of Parties (COP28) pledge by almost 200 countries back in 2023 to triple renewable energy deployments by 2030 looks more and more strategically compelling Read more

Not in Australia’s national interest Tim Buckley, the director of Climate Energy Finance, asks: “How is a takeover of Santos by a state owned enterprise in the Middle East remotely in Australia’s national interest? “Abu Dhabi National Oil Company controlling Australia’s second largest methane gas producer and exporter? Enabling the Santos CEO to extract a fat takeover premium as he sales off into retirement? Read more

Tim’s Expert view published on The Energy Co: “Australia is absolutely walking both sides of the street, as we saw with the Albanese government’s approval of a 40 year extension on the North West Shelf gas processing plant. We are still a major, top three fossil fuel exporter. The incumbent industry is still very powerful politically in Australia, and that undermines Australia’s long term strategic national interest, in my view. Read more

On June 5, CEF released a report arguing that carbon pricing is the most cost-effective tool for decarbonizing the global economy. Implementing CBAM targeting key industrial commodities—such as steel, cement, and aluminum—would restore carbon markets, support global emissions reductions, mitigate climate risks, and redirect capital away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy and green industrial products. The report found that carbon pricing mechanisms are becoming increasingly common in the Asia-Pacific region, with 17 national or subnational systems currently in operation, including China’s Emissions Trading System (ETS). Read more

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As the European Union (EU)’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) comes into effect amid the global tariff wars, a new report is calling for Asia to enact its own carbon border levy to ease the public cost of decarbonising the region’s heavy industries. Read more