Media

Chinese firms dominate supply chains for clean technologies such as critical minerals processing, solar panels, and batteries. Chinese foreign investment in clean energy infrastructure helps create markets for such products. “China’s got a supply glut when it comes to green technology, like solar panels and batteries, because of a structural supply-demand mismatch, so they need overseas markets to absorb their products,” report author and CEF China engagement lead Caroline Wang said. Read more

“This trend should not be read as an inevitability, but rather as a signal of the urgency for Australia to modernise its investment and foreign-economic policy settings to enable strategic partnership with the world’s cleantech leader while mitigating risks,” the CEF’s newly published report China’s Outbound Cleantech Capital Surge Drives Global Collaboration Toward Net Zero said. China leads the world when it comes to manufacturing solar, batteries, grid infrastructure and electric vehicles (EVs). Australia, the research found, takes in 70% of capital invested in its renewable energy projects from foreign investors. Read more

Chinese firms have pushed approximately USD 80 billion into overseas clean technology projects over the past year, according to new analysis from Climate Energy Finance (CEF) in Australia. The research places total outbound Chinese direct investments into green technology at more than USD 180 billion since the beginning of 2023, reflecting both commercial necessity and geopolitical recalibration. Read more

Tim Buckley from Climate Energy Finance outlines major shifts in global clean energy investment, with Chinese firms committing over $180 billion to overseas projects since early 2023. Buckley points to investments spanning batteries, solar, green hydrogen, and more, across markets such as Vietnam, Portugal, and Saudi Arabia. He notes that Chinese companies are reaching a point of market saturation at home, with fierce competition pushing them to seek opportunities abroad. This international expansion is seen as part of China’s long-term geopolitical strategy, with the nation controlling a significant portion of the clean technology supply chain. Read more

CHINESE CLEANTECH INVESTMENT INTO AUSTRALIA HAS COLLAPSED, PUTTING AT RISK THE COUNTRY’S NET ZERO & INDUSTRIAL DECARBONISATION GOALS A new report released today by independent think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF), Rising Tide: China’s Outbound Cleantech Capital Surge Drives Global Collaboration Toward Net Zero, finds that Chinese firms have committed more than US$180bn of outbound foreign direct investment (OFDI) in cleantech since the start of 2023 – up 80% since CEF’s Green Capital Tsunami report a year ago. Read more

Via AAP and across 100+ mastheads Australia risks missing its environmental targets if it fails to win greater investment from China and should change its policies to avoid being left behind other nations. Reforms should include more transparency about foreign investment decisions, clean energy advocates have recommended, and a “green lane fast track” for strategic renewable energy investments. Think tank Climate Energy Finance issued the warnings on Monday in a report analysing China’s growing global investments in zero-emissions technology such as solar panels, batteries, hydro-electricity and green hydrogen. Read more

China’s US$180 billion in overseas clean tech investment since 2023 is driving the energy transition and bankrolling global supply chains, but its investment in Australia has collapsed with others benefiting as host countries for new industries and manufacturing, according to a report by Climate Energy Finance (CEF). Read more

Tim Buckley, director of Australian thinktank Climate Energy Finance (CEF), noted the actuaries recommend that national and state treasuries should review their analysis methodology to make sure that the costs and benefits of adaptation projects are fairly valued. “Adaptation cost and benefits are spread across stakeholders and whole-of-system resilience matters, so this will need to be led by the government serving the public needs overall, rather than relying on the private market to solve anything, given this is ultimately about outsourcing business costs onto everyone else,” Buckley said. 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

BESS deployments booming Batteries are the biggest disruptive force in global energy markets in 2025. Australia becomes world’s third-largest utility battery market. Rho Motion reports Grid-scale BESS market saw 12.7GWh of new capacity enter operations globally in October 2025, +29% y-o-y. Meanwhile, global YTD deployments have reached 156GWh, +38% yoy. China led new operational capacity with 8.8GWh of utility scale BESS added in the Oct 2025 month – double what Australia will do this year – including one giga-scale vanadium flow battery. Read more

Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley said those major exporters would be “terminally challenged” over coming decades as countries shifted to renewable energy to meet commitments under the 2015 Paris agreement. “This should send a strong reminder to Australia as the second largest exporter of thermal coal behind only Indonesia that our key trade partners are responding to climate science and their treaty obligations,” he said. Read more

Australia’s shift to renewable energy isn’t just cutting emissions, it’s also cutting costs for consumers. TIM BUCKLEY Founder, Climate Energy Finance “Solar has gone from being un-bankable to being now the preferred solution for utility scale and that is the battery energy storage disruption.” Read more