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Demand is expected to balloon from 1.35 gigawatts now to between 5-8 GW by 2035 on projections prepared in a Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Baringa report. New approvals should come with clear community benefits, Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley said. “After all, the data centres can only be built leveraging the existing publicly funded water and grid infrastructure we have all paid for,” Mr Buckley said. Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said data centres should be building new solar and wind capacity and have “flexibility and redundancy” built in to protect the network. Read more

The alliance notes that where data centre growth drives the need for new transmission, firming or network augmentation, those costs should not be socialised onto households and small businesses. “Data centre investment is red hot, so we expect our governments to ensure that giving approvals to new infrastructure projects comes with clear community benefits,” says Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley. “After all, the data centres can only be built leveraging the existing publicly funded water and grid infrastructure we have all paid for.” “Approvals should be conditional upon new long-term firmed renewables PPA as a pre-requisite.” Read more

The policy is known as the fuel tax credits scheme. It has received occasional attention in the past, notably in an annual report by the progressive Australia Institute. But there is now a growing chorus of people saying it is a clear fossil fuel subsidy, makes little sense and should be wound back, if not outright abolished, in this term of parliament. The scheme works like this: most Australians pay an indexed excise, currently 51.6 cents, on every litre of petrol or diesel they buy. Some businesses – those that use the fuel to run vehicles on private roads, or that drive heavy vehicles on public roads, or use diesel for machinery – get that tax refunded. Read more

Highlights The Clean Energy Council’s 4Q2025 report shows a rebound in large-scale renewable and storage investment across Australia, with record commissioning and strong financial activity. Five generation projects (1.2 GW) and five storage projects (1.1 GW) reached FID, while 2.1 GW of generation and 1.9 GW / 4.9 GWh of storage became operational, surpassing Q3 2025 records. The pipeline remains strong with 81 generation (13 GW) and 75 storage projects (13 GW / 35 GWh) under construction or financially committed. NSW awarded six major 8-hour battery contracts, including the 300 MW / 3,500 MWh Great Western BESS, and launched additional tenders to expand firmed renewables and accelerate zero-emissions generation. Read more

Tim’s interview starts at 1:06:33 in the link. The short film series Hunter at the Crossroads screens tonight in Muswellbrook, exploring local perspectives on the Upper Hunter’s coal industry. A panel will feature Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance. Tim rejected claims Australia is undermining itself by reducing domestic coal use while continuing exports, noting coal is increasingly uneconomic and investors are unwilling to fund new coal-fired power stations. In 2025, US$2.3 trillion was invested globally in clean energy, more than double fossil fuel spending, while climate-related damage costs US$1.4 trillion annually. He said coal is in structural decline, Hunter Valley exports peaked five years ago, and Australia will invest A$500 billion in energy transition over the next decade. 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

Tim Buckley, Director of Climate Energy Finance, notes that the energy transition is reshaping global power, elevating China through sustained clean energy investment. Australia, strategically located in the Asian century with over $300 billion in annual trade with China, can act as a bridge between East and West—deploying low-cost renewables, adding value to critical minerals, and exporting to global partners. Achieving net zero requires $500 billion by 2035, mostly private capital, catalysed by government de-risking. Strengthening the Safeguard Mechanism with clearer, rising carbon price signals will provide investor certainty and accelerate Australia’s clean energy future. Read more

It has been a year since the Whyalla Steelworks was taken from Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance under a $2 billion government intervention. The facility now has five shortlisted buyers from Australia, Japan, Korea and India, with the Premier confident a sale will be finalised this year to maximise returns for taxpayers. Twelve months ago, the government faced industrial crises in Port Pirie and Whyalla threatening thousands of jobs. A tour of the Upper Spencer Gulf aimed to highlight that, for now, both the smelter and steelworks are secure, a message Labor hopes resonates with voters next month. Read more

The green hydrogen project was planned to complement the steelmaking operations in Whyalla. Those plans were “deferred”, the Premier said on the day of announcing the steelworks package. Asked by InDaily whether the state government was interested in pursuing a green hydrogen project again, South Australian Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said: “We don’t have plans for it now” but believed business would eventually take the lead. “Hydrogen is not a political pursuit or an ideological pursuit, it’s a matter of chemistry,” he said. Read more

For developing economies navigating simultaneous development and decarbonization challenges, China’s green technology cooperation enables potential leapfrogging of traditional high-carbon industrialization. Over the past three years, Chinese companies have committed over $180 billion to overseas clean-energy manufacturing and infrastructure, according to the Climate Energy Finance. And China has signed 55 memorandums of understanding on South-South climate cooperation with 43 countries, including programs such as low-carbon demonstration zones. Read more

“South Australia is a world leader in terms of its renewable energy transition and with that comes risks, but now it is showcasing its successes,” says Tim Buckley, an independent energy analyst at Climate Energy Finance, an Australian think-tank based in Sydney. “South Australian consumers are starting to really benefit from sustained, lower power prices.” South Australia generated 84 per cent of its electricity from solar and wind energy in the final quarter of 2025, the highest proportion of any major grid in the world. The state plans to reach 100 per cent by the end of next year. Read more

On LinkedIn, clean energy finance specialist Tim Buckley says the IEA’s analysis points the way from electrification to energy independence and decarbonization. With 448 gigawatts of new renewables capacity installed in 2025 alone, he adds, the data also underline China’s massive lead in deployment. “China leads the world in all cleantech sectors, the zero-emissions growth industries of the future,” Buckley writes. “China leads in research and development, domestic manufacturing, domestic deployments, exports, and outbound foreign direct investment (OFDI) in cleantech. Dominates the world. China speed, China scale is amazing to watch.” Read more