Media

CEF partner, advisory panel member and founder of Climate Capital Forum Blair Palese in Canberra Times and 100+ mastheads via AAP While the measures were welcome, the budget lacked big-ticket changes capable of speeding up Australia’s transition to renewable energy, such as a gas export levy or changes to electrify heavy transport, according to Climate Capital Forum founder Blair Palese. “For a world in transition, this budget sends a message that Australia is still stuck in the past,” she said. “It has missed the opportunity to send a strong signal to clean energy investors that Australia is growing its clean energy commitments and setting the conditions for them to invest in renewable energy projects, jobs and green industrial capability.” Read more

Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley – while noting the $60 billion of decarbonisation and Future Made in Australia funding initiatives put in place over the last four Chalmers budgets – says this is a “glaring omission” in the context of the global fossil fuel shock and cost-of-living crisis. “The government declined to introduce a proposed 25 per cent gas exports levy at a moment when prices are hyperinflated by Trump’s war in the Middle East, a reform which could have delivered $17 billion annually to the Budget and funded cost of living relief,” Buckley said on Wednesday. Read more

Tim Buckley from Climate Energy Finance sets out a mixed assessment of the Federal Budget on climate and energy. Buckley frames the Treasurer’s approach as a difficult balancing act between fiscal conservatism and competing policy objectives, and argues that fairness and intergenerational equity receive insufficient attention. He welcomes the reform of discretionary trusts, describing the move to a 30% tax rate on 880,000 trusts as a courageous step that targets high‑end wealth. Read more

There are clear financial incentives for global mining giants to borrow in yuan, according to Tim Buckley, director of the Sydney-based think tank Climate Energy Finance. With China’s inflation rate hovering between 0 per cent and 1 per cent in recent years, while Australia’s was “currently at 3-5%”, longer-term interest rates are “materially higher” in Australia, Buckley explained. “So borrowing at 3.8% pa allowed Fortescue to repay its existing Australian dollar and US dollar borrowings of 6%,” he said. “On US$2 billion of borrowing, this saved Fortescue US$44m annually off their interest bill.” Read more

The federal budget increases investment in emissions reduction, batteries and clean energy infrastructure, but leaves major fossil fuel tax concessions and gas industry profits largely untouched. Read more

After substantial recent investment in accelerating Australia’s renewable energy transition and green industrialisation – principally via the Albanese Government’s flagship Future Made in Australia (FMIA) program – the 2026 Federal Budget released last night lacked any big-ticket new commitments to grow our national ambition to become a renewables superpower and zero-emissions trade and investment leader, and featured some reduction of previously announced funding. The Budget saves $1.3bn over 10 years from redirecting part of the $19.7bn 2024–25 Budget measure for FMIA, and $1.9bn is rightly cut from Hydrogen Headstart. Read more

Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley supports the move, noting that data centres could trigger a new wave of energy projects and spur on investment from other firms if given clear renewable energy requirements. “It’s been really important that the federal government has said we want you to solve the problems you’re creating before we approve your projects,” Buckley says in a separate report published on Renew Economy, here. “They can be clearly told if you bring your battery, your solar and your wind project and your (desalination) plant with you, the chance you’re getting approved is really high. Read more

Queensland continues its streak of naysaying when it comes to the planned new Electricity Services Entry Mechanism (ESEM), the CIS replacement measure recommended by the National Electricity Market (NEM) Read more

via AAP in Canberra times and across 100+ mastheads “It’s been really important that the federal government has said we want you to solve the problems you’re creating before we approve your projects,” he says. “They can be clearly told if you bring your battery, your solar and your wind project and your (desalination) plant with you, the chance you’re getting approved is really high.” If given clear renewable energy requirements, data centres could trigger a new wave of energy projects, Mr Buckley says, and provide the necessary financial support to encourage investments from other firms. Read more

Main Story: Our Clean Energy Finance Report: Green Metal Statecraft: Policy, Investment and Technology Trends in the Green Iron Evolution Highlights – The SEC Sydney conference – Fuel Tax Credit reform – The Cheaper Home Batteries Program and Accelerating capital deployments – More RE share => lower energy prices Lowlights – The Albanese government has ruled out a 25% LNG export levy, very disappointing – We did secure an East Coast Gas reservation of 20% of production from 1 July 2027. Good and bad, it helps reduce energy cost inflation for sure, but it also means the hurdle for electrification and decarbonisation is harder, given methane is cheaper. Read more

The crisis in the Middle East has sent shockwaves across the international markets. Speaking to ESN Premium in March at the Energy Storage Summit Australia 2026, Climate Energy Finance’s Tim Buckley said that geopolitical instability exposes Australia’s oil dependency and positions the country as a safe haven for international renewable energy capital. The climate finance expert, whose public-interest think tank operates without government or corporate funding, argues that sustained oil price spikes above US$100 per barrel should serve as a catalyst for the Australian government to accelerate investment in battery storage, EVs, and firm renewable energy infrastructure, rather than retreating into short-term crisis management. Read more

A new report from Climate Energy Finance is said by Tim Buckley to show Australia’s window to lead in green iron and steel is rapidly narrowing. Buckley states that iron ore and coking coal remain core export pillars, yet global steel decarbonisation is accelerating as governments and industry target net zero. He argues green iron depends on green hydrogen and is facing slowing momentum, project cancellations and capital cost blowouts, leaving Australia exposed to losing a “once‑in‑a‑generation” export shift. Read more