Media

The scam is bad news for Australian coal exports. A report released today by Climate Energy Finance models a dramatic slowing in the rate of China’s new coal power plant build-out to stop the construction of new plants before 2030. This critical shift in the global energy landscape has profound significance globally and for Australia – including the inevitable decline in demand for coal in China. This is a wakeup call for Australia to accelerate the transition of its economy from dependence on coal exports and diversify its economic base. We should be pivoting now to leverage our world-leading wealth of critical minerals such as lithium and strategic metals like iron ore, processing and manufacturing onshore using our abundant clean energy. Read more

The New South Wales government will announce within days that it will extend the operations of Australia’s biggest coal-fired power station for as long as four more years. “They are responding to the demands of the fossil fuel sector,” said Tim Buckley, head of Climate Energy Finance, who has compiled reports on how NSW can retain a reliable power system without Eraring. “They will be using taxpayer funds to crowd out private capital” that would otherwise be investing in renewable energy, he said. In March, Buckley estimated that keeping the power station operating could cost the government as much as $150m a year for just two of its four units. Read more

Climate Energy Finance’s latest report, released this week, modelled China’s electricity system nationally at the annual level through to 2040, evaluating its likely GDP growth trajectory and the resulting energy demand growth, as well as the increased share and hence demand for electricity in the energy mix as China continues to pursue its ‘electrification of everything’ strategy of the last two decades. This is a wakeup call for Australia to accelerate the transition of its economy from its historic overdependence on coal exports and diversify its economic base. We should be pivoting now to deploy our natural advantages – our world-leading wealth of critical minerals and strategic metals – to produce value-added energy transition materials for export. Read more

Xuyang Dong spoke with Amelia Bernasconi at ABC about CEF’s new report POWER SHIFT: Staggering rise of renewables positions China to end new coal power before 2030. Xuyang says that China is massively accelerating renewable energy. In just the first three months of this year China installed 61 gigawatts of wind and solar. This means China is reducing its dependence on coal power. Coal power will fall to less than 50% of China’s energy mix by 2030. Our projections show it can stop building new coal power stations before 2030. Read more

China’s energy landscape is undergoing a staggering transformation propelled by its leadership in cleantech innovation, declining costs in renewable energy technologies and a massive acceleration of its renewables build out, underpinned by central policy support that sees decarbonisation as a key economic goal. Read more

Xuyang Dong spoke with Amelia Bernasconi at ABC Breakfast Upper Hunter about CEF’s new report POWER SHIFT: Staggering rise of renewables positions China to end new coal power before 2030. Xuyang says that China is massively accelerating renewable energy. In just the first three months of this year China installed 61 gigawatts of wind and solar. This means China is reducing its dependence on coal power. Coal power will fall to less than 50% of China’s energy mix by 2030. Our projections show it can stop building new coal power stations before 2030. Read more

Management at BYD, which already exports cars to more than 70 countries, has told investors that they believe they can increase overseas sales from nearly 250,000 cars in 2023 to between two to three million cars in the coming years, reflecting around 10 per cent of the market, excluding Europe and the U.S. “They are strategically farsighted,” says Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, an Australian think-tank. “They don’t have the myopic short-termism of western capitalism.” Despite the protectionist trade landscape under U.S. President Joe Biden, BYD is also finding new ways to operate in the American market. Read more

Australian renewable energy finance expert Tim Buckley was not convinced the takeover bid was a wise move. “I question what the takeover brings aside from complexity,” he told AFP before the bid was confirmed. Read more

This week’s voting down of Woodside Energy’s misnamed Climate Transition Action Plan at the oil and gas giant’s 70th annual general meeting is historic. It represents a milestone in shareholder activism – and a clarion call that the tide is turning on laggard fossil fuel majors that fail to responsibly and credibly address the greatest single risk they face: climate change. A credible and accelerating diversification and pivot of Woodside’s investment strategy to zero-carbon opportunities is critical to preservation of shareholder value. Alternatively, an accelerated return of capital to shareholders is an obvious option, allowing them to reallocate their investment to solutions rather than remaining beholden to the unwillingness of recalcitrant leadership to embrace technologies in which they demonstrably lack expertise. It is past time for board renewal. Read more

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/b8bde0b5-7484-45bf-a1e0-475a3ac91bd6 Despite auto market pressures, China’s slowing economic growth and western trade protectionism there are no signs that BYD is rethinking its plans for global expansion. Management at BYD, which already exports cars to more than 70 countries, has told investors that they believe they can increase overseas sales from nearly 250,000 cars in 2023 to between 2mn-3mn cars in the coming years, reflecting around 10 per cent of the market, excluding Europe and the US. “They are strategically farsighted,” says Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, an Australian think-tank. “They don’t have the myopic short-termism of western capitalism.”  Read more

The opportunities are enormous for Australia, says Tim Buckley, a director at think-tank Climate Energy Finance in Sydney. “Australia has always been a lucky country. We are blessed. We supply half of the world’s iron ore and lithium. We also have the best wind and solar resources in the world,” he says. Potentially, Australia could not only export the raw minerals and materials needed for the green transition, but also do the value-added processing, Buckley suggests. However, that hinges on international collaboration with key partners, including China, which not only has the best technology when it comes to solar, but is also the biggest buyer of critical raw materials from Australia. “As the buyer, they want a lower price. We’ve got a disproportionate power relationship,” says Buckley. “China’s got the value-add. Australia needs to reset the bar.” Read more

Where China once built an industry from Australian innovation, Australia now needs China’s help to do the same. To build low-cost panels at scale, experts say Australia needs access to the production line technology and manufacturing patents China has developed over the past 20 years. “I see manufacturing [intellectual property] as a challenge but also an opportunity,” Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, said. “This is a way of enhancing collaboration with China.” Read more