Media

The US/Israel war on Iran is the latest geopolitical disruption to trigger a domestic cost-of-living crisis. Petrol and diesel prices are soaring, and the pain is spreading through mortgage rates, grocery bills, and falling super balances as markets slumps. This is no longer just a pump-price issue; it is a systemic shock to the Australian economy, repeating the fossil fuel hyperinflationary hit we all collectively suffered with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It is time for Australia to focus and value energy independence. Read more

As Climate Energy Finance’s latest report out this week, Raw Power, highlights: the world’s overwhelming decarbonisation leader, China, is rolling out a structural, state-directed strategy to secure dominance of global supply chains underpinning the emerging zero emissions world economy. Since 2023, Climate Energy Finance has tracked over $US120 billion in global investments and projects by Chinese firms into resource mining and upstream processing, including critical metals to the energy transformation in lithium, nickel, copper, high-grade iron ore, and bauxite, as well as rare earths and minerals for national security interests. Read more

A new Climate Energy Finance report shows the scale of the push. Since 2023, China has committed more than US$120 billion in outbound investment across critical minerals and metals. From lithium in Zimbabwe to nickel processing in Indonesia and iron ore infrastructure in Guinea, Chinese capital is moving with deliberate intent across the Global South. The aim is not simply to secure raw materials. It is to lock in the feedstock, processing capacity, and industrial partnerships needed for batteries, electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, and green industrial commodities. Read more

The widening conflict in the Gulf has exposed Australia’s extreme reliance on imported oil. With minimal fuel reserves and a $12 billion annual diesel subsidy to mining, energy security has become a national security emergency. The last several days have underscored the existential risk Australia runs by remaining addicted to imported fossil fuels. On 28 February, the US and Israel launched a preemptive war against Iran. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed. The conflict is now widening regionally, impacting energy markets worldwide. Yet the Australian government provides a $12 billion annual subsidy to keep us addicted to imported diesel, undermining our clean energy-powered Future Made In Australia, energy security and decarbonisation objectives. Read more

In a November 2025 report Climate Energy Finance (CEF) outlined a pathway for the SA government to enable and facilitate the state’s magnetite industry as a precursor to a broader green iron industry and to transform the Whyalla Steelworks in a phased approach: prioritising the construction of a new electric arc furnace (EAF) to replace steelmaking capacity, followed by a new green iron facility as green hydrogen economics continue to improve. It is also positive to see the administration process for Whyalla Steelworks has attracted interest from more than 70 parties worldwide, with five domestic and international groups now shortlisted and undertaking detailed technical, financial and operational due diligence over the coming months. Read more

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has announced “the Age of Electricity” in its latest report – Electricity 2026 – which highlights the rapid growth of global electrification over 2020-2025, now forecast to accelerate to 3.6% per year growth to 2030. With electrification comes both energy independence and decarbonisation, as regions and countries the world over speed their transitions to meet economic and climate goals in an increasingly fraught geopolitical landscape. Two weeks ago, the UK government joined with nine northern European countries to sign the historic Hamburg Declaration to secure a massive 100GW of new offshore wind projects. This is designed to ensure Europe hasn’t freed itself from Russian fossil fuel capture only to allow US capture instead. Read more

Renewable generation supplied more than half of Australia’s electricity in the fourth quarter of 2025, driving wholesale power prices down by nearly 50% and coinciding with record battery output, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). Coal-fired generation fell 4.6% year on year to a record quarterly low, while gas-fired output dropped 27% to its lowest level in 25 years. Read more

The last few weeks have been an object lesson in the benefits of the transformation of our energy market, dispelling the myths promulgated by fossil fuel vested interests that increased renewable energy means more expensive power and reduced grid reliability. We have seen exactly the opposite of that: with increased extreme weather events including unprecedented heatwaves and devastating fires in southeast Australia, the grid has proven resilient under surging demand and stress, and now the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) confirms that increased renewables correlates with a significant decline in wholesale prices. Read more

The first shipment of high-grade iron ore from Guinea’s Simandou mine left port last month. In Conakry and Beijing it was celebrated as a milestone. For Australia, it should be read as a sign of how rapidly global energy and industrial supply chains are shifting. Read more

After increasing their coal production by 60% in the last financial year, Whitehaven Coal has quietly withdrawn their EPBC application for their Blackwater North coal mine extension project. After already achieving approval from the state government, the extension project would have approved an additional 220 million tonnes of coal mining at the Queensland complex with plans to continue mining through 2085. When Whitehaven acquired the Blackwater mine from BHP in 2023, it explicitly stated in ASX disclosures that the mine’s potential life could extend for more than 50 years “dependent on prevailing local and macroeconomic conditions”. Read more

China controls 80-90% of the global supply, holding vast reserves and dominates processing after investing early and strategically. But Australia has major skin in this game too. We have the world’s largest supply of lithium and abundant reserves of cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite and rare earths. Currently, our biggest customer is our #1 trade partner, with 90% of our lithium going to China. Now, Australia is being courted by the US as a potential key strategic partner in diversifying and securing its supply against the escalating backdrop of China-US tensions and retaliatory trade restrictions. Diversification of critical mineral supply chains will be high on the agenda in talks between Prime Minister Albanese and President Trump this week. Read more

This sends a clear signal to the international community about China’s sustained commitment to addressing climate change in line with the Paris Agreement. While the absolute reduction figure seems modest, China has a record of under-promising and over-delivering. For example, it surpassed its 2030 wind and solar power generation capacity target in July 2024, six years ahead of schedule. Over the last decade, it has systematically and rapidly implemented a transformative national plan of economy-wide decarbonisation through building the largest and fastest growing renewable energy system in the world while increasing its electrification rate at 10 percentage points per decade. Read more