Media

The Albanese Government is reportedly set to announce its new National Determined Contributions ( NDCs) to 2035 this week – its emissions reduction targets under our Paris Agreement obligations. Today, the case for strong NDCs was definitively settled. The government’s National Climate Risk Assessment modelling paints a devastating picture of the economic, health and social impacts of climate change. Read more

Hundreds of thousands of dollars will be cut from licence and application fees for offshore wind projects in Australia as the industry struggles to establish itself amid global headwinds. The federal government on Tuesday announced a series of temporary cuts to offshore wind fees and levies, including slashing one licence application fee from $300,000 to $20,000. Read more

Australia’s green bank, industry and all levels of government are on notice to consider the nation’s “chronic climate risks” and invest accordingly. But it’s not too late to avert the worst of it, according to the first National Climate Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plan, which feed into the imminent 2035 emissions reduction pledge Australia must make under the Paris Agreement. Critical energy infrastructure is already vulnerable to bushfires, heatwaves and extreme heat, coastal inundation, extreme rainfall and associated flooding, tropical cyclones and extreme wind. Read more

Highlights China Cleantech Exports Boom – Lauri Myllyvirta @CREA notes value of China’s exports of clean energy technologies hit a new all-time record in July, passing the previous high from March 2023. China exported $18.4bn worth of solar and wind power equipment, EVs and batteries during the month. Australia Brazil Chamber of Commence Forum – ABCC business forum in the lead up to COP30, Organised by the wonderful Mara Bun. We also head about Brazil looking todevelop world leading green iron projects. Read more

Tim Buckley sees Sun Cable’s pivot from a 4,200km subsea electricity cable to solar-powered data centres as a pragmatic shift […] Read more

It is incredibly disappointing that Australia’s largest company refuses to act in line with climate science. Tim Buckley, director of the think tank Climate Energy Finance, notes that the cancellation of the project comes as the company appears to be winding back its broader decarbonisation ambitions. Last month, BHP revealed it had deferred until the next decade a decision on when or indeed whether it will electrify its vast fleet of trucks and trains. Read more

“It is incredibly disappointing that Australia’s biggest company refuses to act in alignment with the climate science. “And it makes the government’s emissions reduction trajectory extremely difficult to deliver on.” The cancellation of the so-called ‘Inland Solar PV’ project comes amid what one analyst described as a “cooling” by BHP on broader decarbonisation efforts. Read more

One of Australia’s largest proposed coal projects could absorb more in diesel tax exemptions in its lifetime than the initial sum sunk into its construction, environmental groups say. About $44 million a year would be rebated to Whitehaven for its Winchester South coal mine under the fuel tax credit scheme, which is facing renewed scrutiny for its drag on public finances and decarbonisation goals. Read more

Danish firm Orsted has launched a lawsuit against the administration this week for preventing work on its offshore wind project when it was 80 per cent complete. The market instability is making companies rethink investments in the technology, Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley says. “We’ve just had a reality check from Trump destroying offshore wind in the US,” he says. “Offshore wind is going to be a very financially challenged proposition here in Australia.” Read more

Tim Buckley, energy analyst at Climate Energy Finance, explains the strategic importance of a new rare earth discovery amid the global shift to renewables. Rare earths, though niche, are critical for technologies like EVs and wind turbines. China dominates global supply, making non-Chinese sources like Australia vital, especially during US-China trade tensions. The Australian government may support viable projects for sovereign capability. However, environmental concerns exist due to radioactivity and mining impacts, raising questions about social and geopolitical consequences. Read more

The exposé accuses Climate Energy Finance of proposing something truly radical – capping mining fuel tax breaks and redirecting the savings to renewable energy. The evidence of foreign manipulation? A decade-old university donation, a couple of routine business partnerships and the apparently treasonous act of acknowledging that China manufactures solar panels. Welcome to McCarthyism for the climate age, where any policy that trims fossil profits gets recast as Beijing’s master plan. The guilt-by-association game begins with CEF’s supposed “partners linked to the Chinese Government”. Read more

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