Media

The Climate Change Authority’s weekly newsletter On Good Authority takes a closer look at recent climate and energy news from Australia and around the world with the most recent edition featuring our Fuel Tax Credit Scheme Report: “ Calls for changes to Australia’s Fuel Tax Credit scheme could unlock over $13.6bn of clean investment by 2030. The scheme subsidises imported diesel used off-road, mainly in mining.’ Read more

Forest Wind is the second approved wind farm to be cancelled by the conservative state government, following the axing of the $1 billion Moonlight Range project in May. Repealing a law and cancelling developments under it will send a message to all investors in Queensland that their work is at risk, says Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley. Read more

The WA Environment Protection Authority said South Korean company POSCO’s plan to use the potent greenhouse gas methane to make green iron was justified because it would reduce global emissions compared to a scenario where the same iron ore was sent to Asia to be cooked with coking coal in a blast furnace. The decision to take a “global” view of project emissions was welcomed by decarbonisation advocates. Read more

In the four-page story, she then provides a potted history of China’s economic pathway from the 1990s until the 10-year “Made in China” plan made renewable energy essential to bring their heating emissions down. She quotes Chinese women scientists revealing the country’s energy transformation as “staggering”. Caroline Wang, the China engagement lead at the think tank Climate Energy Finance says: “Clean manufacturers have made themselves indispensable in the new kind of global economy.” Read more

CEF’s new report on Diesel Fuel Rebate subsidy reform “Transition Tax Incentive: Reforming Fuel Tax Credits into a Decarbonisation Tailwind”. A policy proposal to phase-out the fuel tax credit scheme for its largest beneficiaries with a transition tax incentive scheme to accelerate electrification and decarbonisation. Since the Fuel Tax Act 2006 (starting FY07), the FTC Scheme has provided $123bn in diesel subsidies to FY25. Beyond this, by FY30, it will have provided $184bn in subsidies. Read more

Australia is fossil fuel dependent – supplying half the globes’ iron ore, and nearly as much coking coal. In a world that’s looking to get away from fossil fuels, this is a problem. What can Australia do to maintain its mineral wealth and meet emissions targets? Rear Vision drills down into our coal and iron-ore industries. And asks, can Green Iron save us? Read more

Climate Energy Finance Director Tim Buckley has called for reform of Australia’s diesel fuel subsidy. This comes as business groups have expressed concern following Labor’s economic reform roundtable. “What we have called for is a $50 million per company, per annum cap to the diesel fuel rebate,” Mr Buckley told Sky News Australia. “Not one farmer, not one truck driver, not one small or medium-sized enterprise will be affected; it only affects the 15 largest mining companies in Australia.” Read more

Caroline Wang, the China engagement lead at the Australian think tank Climate Energy Finance, said: “Rising protectionism and supply chain regionalisation have led to a trend by Chinese firms moving from export of products to export of industry, that is localising manufacturing. “On standard-setting, the Chinese government is pushing for the development of standards in the green and low-carbon sector of industry and information technology, and to improve and enhance the green and low-carbon standards system.” Read more

CEF proposes that companies be required to reinvest any fuel tax credits above a $50 million annual cap into clean energy diesel alternatives, or forgo these credits (top FTC recipient companies currently claim hundreds of millions of dollars in credits annually). Fortescue, a major beneficiary of fuel tax credits, fully supports our proposal. This year alone, the scheme — a top 20 budget expense — is costing the public purse $11 billion, and this will climb to more than $13 billion a year by decade’s end. Republished from Renew Economy Read more

China is electrifying its economy at breakneck speed. That includes transportation – cars, trucks, trains, buses, etc. – that Canada is counting on as a new market for its oil exports. There’s more bad news for Alberta: other Asian countries are copying China’s energy model. Read more

In 2022 the Albanese government set aside $20 billion for its ‘Rewiring the Nation’ fund, to upgrade Australia’s electricity grid. In August 2023, the federal government signed a deal for $3 billion of that money to be set aside for Western Australian projects. But the Clean Energy Finance Corporation has confirmed to the ABC not a single dollar has been allocated to specific projects under that deal. Read more

A Climate Energy Finance report circulated to key Labor ministers and members of the crossbench recommends a $50 million cap on the fuel tax subsidy, with big miners forced to spend any cash they claim beyond that on green energy alternatives. Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King has indicated the government has little appetite to overhaul the fuel subsidy, though at least one major Australian miner has voiced concerns behind closed doors over the implications of an ongoing campaign by green groups to reform the tax. Read more