Media

Climate Energy Finance (CEF) estimates that since the start of 2023, $75 billion of Federal Government funding and capital allocations have been made towards decarbonisation, electrification and the associated Future Made in Australia (FMIA) program, with another $6 billion of State allocations. Read more

Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley told Region he had not seen any systematic evidence that solar farms devalued neighbouring properties in his 30 years analysing financial markets. “If anything, I’ve seen the opposite,” Mr Buckley said. “It’s in the hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the project.” Read more

BHP (ASX: BHP) will axe 750 jobs in its Queensland coal division, blaming weak coal prices and high state government royalties. The BHP-Mitsubishi Saraji South metallurgical coal mine, one of the world’s largest coal reserves, will be mothballed in November. “Structural decline in one of Australia’s largest fossil fuel export commodities, coupled with rising unit costs are the reasons for investment decisions, not Queensland’s nation-leading royalty scheme,” Climate Energy Finance analyst Matt Pollard said. Read more

The Albanese government will reportedly announce a new 2035 emissions reduction target this week. The pressure is now on. We have, for the first time, formal recognition from the government of the escalating risks of climate change and its devastating economic, health and social impacts in the form of the landmark National Climate Risk Assessment report. The picture it paints is apocalyptic. In line with the climate science, the Risk Assessment reports that future extreme weather is likely to present heightened risks to people, places and our way of life. Read more

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