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“Now Rio Tinto and partners have agreed to invest another $1.1bn in modernisation and decarbonisation on top of the $2.5bn state and Federal investment package in renewable energy,” wrote Tim Buckley this morning. “Rio Tinto has long threatened Tomago closure when the subsidised coal power contract expired end 2028. The world is embracing decarbonisation and Tomago is >95% export focussed, so Rio has long made it clear green aluminium exports was the only international path forward. Read more

Tim’s interview starts at 14:30 Tim Buckley, Director of Climate Energy Finance, compared challenges facing Tomago in NSW and Rio Tinto’s Bell Bay smelter in Tasmania, arguing governments cannot continue relying on repeated taxpayer-funded industry bailouts. He noted almost $10 billion in government support across Australian industrial facilities over two years. While recognising the strategic importance of aluminium and associated jobs, Buckley called for long-term solutions, highlighting competitive pressure from subsidised Chinese refining capacity and the need for greater renewable energy supply to reduce electricity costs. Read more

Clean Energy Finance director Tim Buckley said the federal government could use balance sheet to underwrite an agreement to supply Tomago with green energy cheaply. Taxpayers would be on the hook, but the government would get a cut if aluminium prices increase. Read more

The energy crisis unleashed by the Mideast conflict has rippled worldwide, but some countries are better protected than others. Like China, Australia is in a fortunate position, thanks largely to years of renewables and battery build-out. Record solar and wind generation, booming home batteries and rooftop panels have mitigated the impact of the energy price and supply shocks seen elsewhere. The country’s one acute vulnerability — imported fuel, oil for the most part — is driving a tipping point in adoptions of electric vehicles (EVs). Read more

In this episode, Tim Buckley, Director of Climate Energy Finance, explores Australia’s opportunity to become a global leader in green iron and green steel. The discussion examines how decarbonising steel production could strengthen Australia’s economic competitiveness, create new export opportunities, and support the transition to a low-emissions future. The conversation also highlights the policy, investment and technology changes needed to position Australia at the forefront of the global green metals industry. Read more

Australia faces a nation-defining moment. Climate change, energy insecurity, technological transformation and geopolitical competition are reshaping the economic and strategic landscape. They can no longer be understood – or governed – in isolation. They demand a more strategic response: one that aligns public institutions and private investment to build the industries that will underpin future prosperity and national resilience. Read more

Tim Buckley, a former investment banker and the director of Climate Energy Finance, said the company was structured so that it wouldn’t pay corporate tax in Australia. “This is a perfect example of why Australia needs new rules that ensure foreign entities have a sensible capital structure,” said Buckley, who advocates for changes that would limit the amount of deductions a business can make to reduce tax. Read more

Bonaparte. Jointly owned by Inpex, Woodside and TotalEnergies, it exists to bury carbon dioxide from Inpex’s polluting Ichthys LNG plant off Darwin. It generates no energy of any kind. Yet federal Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres granted it Major Project Status and folded it into a suite of announcements he called “renewable energy” initiatives. Clean energy analyst Tim Buckley called that framing “a seriously dangerous error,” and he’s right: when a minister can’t or won’t distinguish generating clean renewable power from dumping a gas plant’s pollution under the ocean. This is what carbon capture of government looks like. Read more

Experts in solar energy say while Australians have installed a huge number of panels over the years, there’s another big hurdle the country must overcome; mastering the use of robots and prefabrication. Read more

The top 18 recipients of the fuel tax credits collectively received a $3.3 billion rebate for the diesel they used over 2024-25. Under the Safeguard Mechanism, they paid just $150m. That’s a ratio of 22 to one. The analysis is from Climate Integrity, a not-for-profit group focused on corporate accountability, which commissioned Tim Baxter from NARU Research to look at the latest figures from Climate Energy Finance. Read more

Tim Buckley, founder and director of the Australian think tank Climate Energy Finance, told China Daily that the latest decision for a pre-feasibility study into a new oil refinery is “a massive own goal, one that will do nothing to build Australia’s energy security in the short or medium term”. By the time any resulting plant is operational in five to 10 years, it will “undermine Australian energy security by locking in our dependence on imported fossil fuels for many decades to come, undermining our energy system transformation in alignment with the climate science,” he said. Read more

Australia could unlock billions of dollars in manufacturing investment by accelerating the development of low-emissions steelmaking, according to a new report from Climate Energy Finance (CEF), which warns that the country’s iron ore export industry faces growing exposure as global steelmakers decarbonise. Read more