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Stiell’s comments come as Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce and One Nation’s Pauline Hanson push a private member’s bill to scrap Australia’s 2050 net zero target, exposing divisions within the Coalition. Meanwhile, the Albanese government is preparing to set its 2035 target next year, due in September, a decision widely viewed as a test of whether Australia intends to match the pace of global decarbonisation or remain tethered to its fossil fuel export model. Tim Buckley, founder of Climate Energy Finance, said the 2035 target represents Australia’s chance to align with the global clean energy transition and secure long-term economic and geopolitical benefits. Read more

Adani’s accounts show that even though revenue has been rising from the Carmichael operations, it has enough interest on related-party loans and other expenses to keep reporting losses. ATO disclosures for the Abbot Point terminal business, now named North Queensland Export Terminal Holdings, between 2013 and 2023 showed just one record of the Adani entity paying tax, which was for $4m in 2017-18. The port regularly generates annual income of between $300m and $550m. Tim Buckley, a former investment banker and the director of Climate Energy Finance, says that given Adani has not paid tax during recent periods of surging coal prices, it probably never will. Read more

“The Chinese companies are ready to go,” says Tim Buckley, director at Climate Energy Finance. “But they’re waiting on clarity around incentives, and a signal they’re welcome.” Treasury has confirmed that private Chinese firms like CATL, BYD and Trina Solar face no restrictions under FIRB rules – though state-owned enterprises remain sensitive. Still, Buckley warns, “we need to partner with them, bring in their robotics, and leverage our low-cost energy future”. Read more

Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, a pro-renewables energy analysis group, said the Albanese government had been ignoring its responsibility for the emissions caused by the fossil fuel it sells overseas. “The Albanese government has acted on scope one through the safeguard mechanism [which forces industry emission cuts],” Buckley said. “They’re acting on scope two by decarbonising our electricity system. But they’re failing to act on scope three – that’s what the Woodside decision highlighted. Read more

It will be of a Barnaby Joyce sideshow in a parliamentary corridor in which he announced he would introduce a private member’s bill to dump Australia’s goal to reach net zero by 2050. Joyce and his former political foe Michael McCormack had apparently arrived in Canberra having cooked up a plan to carve up the spoils of the Coalition’s comprehensive election loss. “This is a hell of crowd,” Joyce chirped as he lobbed up to the press pack he had gathered. He gave three main reasons for dumping the target, all of which are wrong. Read more

Tim Buckley highlights the immense opportunity and risk for Australia in the global push for green steel. As the world’s […] Read more

China has already moved to reduce its dependence on Australian iron ore via a joint venture in Guinea to unlock a vast new high-grade deposit. In the context of these shifting trade dynamics, failure to position Australia now in the green steel supply chain with China is an opportunity cost that threatens to blow a +$50bn annual hole in Australian exports. In the face of these enormous opportunities and risks, it was highly significant this week to hear the PM and Australian iron ore business leaders reaffirm their commitment to working in partnership with China to jointly drive steel sector decarbonisation. Read more

Tim Buckley from Climate Energy Finance highlights the major opportunity for Australia and China to collaborate on green steel production, describing the sector as one of the world’s most carbon-intensive industries. Buckley outlines that conventional steelmaking generates over two tonnes of carbon emissions per tonne of steel but sees significant emission reduction potential—up to 95%—by using renewable energy and modern technologies in place of coking and thermal coal. He points to South Korea’s recent $600 million investment in a steel plant set to achieve substantial emissions cuts as indicative of global momentum. Read more

The Prime Minister has spent much of the day trying to guarantee the future of Australia’s critically important exports to China’s steel industry, wrapping up a high-level roundtable on green steel in Shanghai. Australian coal and iron ore exports have fuelled China’s construction boom and underwritten Australian prosperity for years, pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the budget. But as China’s steel industry moves to decarbonise — as well as diversifying its imports and winding down production — Australia’s long resources boom faces an uncertain future. Read more

Caroline Wang from Clean Energy Finance, a think tank, highlighted that China leads the world by a “staggering margin” when it comes to many energy transition sectors, such as electric vehicles and solar panels. She told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that for Australia to meet its emission reduction targets and build a green industrial capacity, China will be an essential partner as Australia needs access to Chinese technology and Chinese industrial capability. Read more

Highlights Our first highlight – the Capacity Investment Scheme. South Australia’s high RE % record Green Steel subsidies from South Korea US invests MP Materials a US Rare Earths materials Read more

“Griffin Coal continues to operate at below gross cashflow breakeven, such that it is struggling to pay for equipment maintenance and the interest let alone have scope to repay the capital on $A600-800 million of debts outstanding against the local Australian entity,” energy analyst Tim Buckley wrote at the time. Read more