Media

Australia has 11 green iron proposals dotted across Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland, but none are ready for commercial production. While the federal government had launched programs to financially support their development, Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley said greater urgency was needed in the public and private sectors to launch projects and learn from them. “My key recommendation to the federal government is let’s actually get one, two or three first-of-a-kind (direct reduced iron) or green hydrogen-based iron projects at semi-commercial or commercial scale up and running,” he told AAP. Read more

Independent think tank Climate Energy Finance issues the warning in a report tracking policy and projects in the sector, including 11 green iron and steel proposals in Australia. No commercial plant has reached a final investment decision, the group warns, and Australia could lose out if progress stalls for another two years. The warning comes as the federal government considers applications to its $500 million Green Iron Investment Fund for early projects, and after a Superpower Institute study found green iron exports could generate $386 billion annually by 2060. Read more

Climate Energy Finance’s new report, Green Metal Statecraft: Policy, Investment and Technology Trends in the Green Iron Evolution, provides an update of the global and domestic investment, technology and enabling policy trends that will underpin the transformation of the iron and steel value chain in 2026. This report highlights that for every step forward on an individual project or market-level, the broader investment pipeline has just as many case studies of project delay, cancellation, and restructure in the face of unresolved structural headwinds. Read more

In recent years, Chinese companies have come to dominate the market for wind energy equipment thanks to rapid domestic deployment of powerful low-cost turbines. But their overseas investment plans have run into steeper hurdles than companies in other clean energy sectors, such as electric vehicles and solar power, said Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, a think tank. Regulators are partly concerned about connecting Chinese-made wind turbines, which are more technologically sophisticated than other clean tech products such as solar modules, to national power grids, he said. But geopolitical concerns and the desire to protect domestic industries have also played a part. Read more

The foreign minister is travelling to Japan, China and Korea – to try and ensure Australia is prioritised by fuel supplier’s. The three countries provide a mix of diesel, petrol and jet fuel to Australia. Petrol prices have come down from the initial highs triggered by the closure of the strait of Hormuz. Tim Buckley the director of ‘climate energy finance’, says the dip stems from cautious energy companies. Read more

In FY24, the top 15 diesel users burned nearly 6 billion litres and received $2.9 billion in tax credits, as Renew Economy reported last week. This year, the total bill for the FTC is $11 billion and that will rise over time, as the 51.6c/litre rebate is linked to inflation and as the mining sector grows. Climate Energy Finance analyst Matt Pollard expects it to hit $13 billion in 2030. Pollard instead recommended an alternative transition idea – the big miners can still get their credits over $50 million, provided they make equal or greater investments in decarbonisation. Read more

Beyond the BHP deal, Tim Buckley, director at Climate Energy Finance, noted that Fortescue Metals – another major Australian mining firm – had already agreed last year to expand its yuan-denominated trade with China. In return, the Australian miner was rewarded with a five-year, 14-billion-yuan (US$2 billion) syndicated loan led by the Bank of China at a highly favourable 3.8 per cent annual interest rate. “China is … leveraging the US’ geopolitical isolation under [US President Donald] Trump as a way of building momentum away from the world’s historic reliance on the US dollar as the functional and reserve currency,” Buckley said. Read more

Climate Energy Finance founder Tim Buckley picks apart China’s growing global dominance in battery supply chains and asks how Australia can chart a path forward on the global stage Read more

Iron ore mining giant and green energy advocate Fortescue has launched a major public campaign urging government to strip big miners of fossil fuel handouts, saying diesel tax rebates are no longer going to the right people. Fortescue, which is aiming to reach “real zero” emissions at its mines by 2030, if not earlier, by using renewables and electric transport and mining equipment, says research shows the 18 largest miners receive about a third of the $11 billion in fuel rebates returned to businesses this year. Read more

In a bid to bridge this gap, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has turned to “fuel diplomacy”, said Dia, with recent visits to Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, where he has been trying to shore up the supply of fuel and fertiliser. As a major exporter of LNG and coal, Australia has some leverage in these negotiations, said Tim Buckley, director of think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF). But, he added, it is notable that Australia’s position is very different to that of its historic ally, the US, which is not as dependent on oil exported through the Strait of Hormuz. “We don’t get any of our oil from the US,” Buckley told Al Jazeera. Read more

The now six-week-long conflict in the Middle East continues, massively disrupting global energy supplies with no end in sight. This underscores the energy security risk to Australia of its extreme dependency on imported oil and resulting exposure to international fossil fuel shocks in an increasingly geopolitically unstable world. The significant implications for national economic resilience are already apparent, with a fuel supply crunch and elevated foreign oil prices driving a cost of living crisis, inflationary pressures and surging interest rates here. At the time of writing, the Hormuz Strait, the critical chokepoint for 20 per cent of the world’s oil, including the Asian supply chains we rely on, remains blocked. Read more

“I think EVs are inevitable and this war in Iran has really given everyone the wake up call to say, hang on wouldn’t it be nice to not be suffering every week filling up your petrol vehicle,” he said. “Its money that you’d be far better off actually paying five bucks for a charger or nothing by charging at home on a slow charger from your rooftop solar. “Now, the emphasis has to be on the government’s role to make sure we bring the whole of the Australian economy and people along, not just the privileged half.” Mr Buckley said he hopes to see reforms that provide financial incentives to electrify and decarbonise energy needs for transport, be it freight, passenger vehicles, mining and then at a slower pace for farmers and agriculture. Read more