Media

In a joint statement federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, Future Made in Australia Minister Tim Ayres and Resources Minister Madeleine King said benefits would flow to local workers, industries and communities, creating “well-paid local jobs” while also “strengthening economic resilience” and decarbonising industries. Read more

Trump has declared an “energy emergency”, scrapped both environmental restrictions on oil and gas exploration and permits for wind farms, all to the benefit of an oil and gas industry that spent $US219m installing his government. So what is the impact? When Trump last abandoned the Paris Accord, many observers argued they would rather have a recalcitrant US alone outside the tent rather than wrecking things within. The UN treaty that drives the global climate response demands consensus in key votes. Having the US side with fossil states such as Russia and Saudi Arabia might have gummed up a cumbersome process even further. Read more

Under the plan, METI will evaluate submissions by automakers on their low-emission steel procurement and allocate subsidies based on the percentage of green steel being used, according to Matt Pollard, an analyst at clean energy consultancy Climate Energy Finance. “In the broader context, it is important for METI to publicly release the carbon accounting methodologies, green product definitions and emission thresholds it will use to determine products and producers that will benefit from the models approved under the new subsidy scheme,” Pollard said. Put simply, how all this works is likely to determine whether it is actually successful. Read more

For Beijing, there is a persistent worry that Chinese companies could find themselves shut out of the Australian market as business and economic matters increasingly become entangled with security issues. And those concerns intensified on Tuesday, after Albanese and Trump spoke about the possibility of the US granting Australia an exemption to its newly announced 25% tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium. Read more

Woodside Energy’s CEO Meg O’Neill sounded a self-serving alarm last week about the risks for Australia of the US’s new administration’s “drill baby drill” mantra, concluding that the ever-looming east coast gas supply shortage demands urgent government actions to accelerate gas exploration and development. Read more

Australia’s energy transition is progressing well, with renewable energy accounting for 46% of total energy by the fourth quarter of 2024, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). This places us more than halfway to our target of 82% renewable energy by 2030, with six years to go. Read more

Industry figures fear wariness at the Foreign Investment Review Board about Chinese-linked investment is hindering the flow of capital needed to advance Australia’s energy transition, slowing progress on new wind and solar farms and stalling acquisitions. A $813m deal by a unit of energy major BP to sell five solar farms to Beijing Energy International Holding is close to collapse as the buyer seeks to secure foreign investment approval. Read more

Some of the key highlights from this report are: Need for a clear embodied decarbonisation price signal in international trade, extending the EU ETS and CBAM with an Asian CBAM Iron ore and met coal exports from Australian mines in FY 2024 generated gross profit of A$120bn from the Asian Steel Sector, plus A$10 bn pa of royalties to each of WA and Queensland state governments. Read more

Australian manufacturing will be eroded and power to the sector switched off unless urgent action is taken to reduce barriers to gas investment, the boss of Australia’s biggest energy company warned. Woodside chief Meg O’Neill called for an end to “anti-gas rhetoric” and to scrap Victoria’s ban on certain onshore gas production over concerns supply shortages would hit economy. “The worry I have is when you get to a point where there’s not enough power to go around to meet the needs of all of the power consumers,” she told reporters following her address to the Melbourne Mining Club on Thursday. Read more

The Climate Capital Forum, a network of investors, industry, climate finance experts and philanthropists, are calling on the federal government to immediately pass the Production Tax Credit Legislation (PTC) during this sitting week. PTC incentives form the financial backbone of the Future Made in Australia package, with a pay on delivery model that ensures funding only goes out to industry once the product is successfully produced. Read more

Tim Buckley returns with Grant McDowell to guide us through Spark Club Podcast’s usual segments: Highlights, Lowlights, The Main Story, and What’s Coming Up. This episode kicks off with some positive news from the Middle East, where large-scale solar and battery storage deployments are setting new records. Tim also covers the $2bn Green Aluminium production tax credits, Labor’s 2025 ‘Build Australia’s Future’ plan, and impressive global numbers for large-scale BESS installations. Also discussed was China’s headline energy and economic growth numbers for 2024 Read more

This week, the global climate movement is in mourning. Under Trump’s reign of executive orders, not only has the US out of the Paris Agreement, but they’ve bulldozed a $300bln wind energy project pipeline and promised to desecrate the incredible climate progress under the IRA. Already, sceptical commentators are calling on Australia’s political contenders to follow suit, abandon climate concerns and double down on ‘bread and butter’ issues ahead of this election. But what they fail to realise, is the incredible opportunity this now presents for Australia. Read more