Media

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

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

Excerpt from CEF Director Tim Buckley’s interview with Xinhua News about China’s leadership in the global energy transition Read more

While Xi’s Communist Party won’t be rushed as it transitions China’s electricity network, it sees a huge opportunity in the global shift. “China wants to dominate the industries of the future,” says Tim Buckley, the Sydney-based head of Climate Energy Finance, a clean energy think tank. In sector after sector from wind farms to solar panels to battery storage to the rollout of new fourth-generation nuclear power technology, China now leads the world. “I have been watching China for 15 years and they’ve exceeded every expectation I had in terms of their investment and the longevity of their strategic thinking,” says Buckley, who used to be the head of research at Citigroup’s Australian hub. Read more

Tim Buckley comments for this Washington Post feature on China’s extraordinary energy transition progress and the implications for emissions. Read more

Tim Buckley shares his insights in a 15 minute video presentation about geopolitical energy landscape. There are geopolitical headwinds to decarbonisation in the U.S., but that just leaves more scope for a China-EU race to the top. Australia needs to collaborate with our number one trade partner. Read more

In the light of Trump’s election in the US, Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley framed China’s dominance in clean technology manufacturing as an opportunity rather than a threat. “China wants to partner with us,” Buckley said, noting that Australia’s status as China’s leading trading partner provides a strong foundation for technology transfer and manufacturing collaboration. Read more

What does a green superpower look like? A certain command and control economy to Australia’s north is the model despite its many current flaws. “China is moving a million times faster than we are,” CEO of Climate Energy Finance, Tim Buckley, said. “China installs 24 gigawatts of wind and solar every month. That’s what they did last month. That’s what they’ve done on average in the last 20 months. We do about six gigs a year. “So they do in one week what we take a year to do. “The idea that we’re the superpower is a delusion. “We’re in a race and we’re not winning it. “But we do have the potential to be a renewable energy superpower and mining is going to be how we get that.” Read more

Trump is expected to reduce the US’ commitment to his predecessor’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act, which funnelled billions of dollars into clean energy. “This opens up strategic opportunities for cooperation for many countries, including both Australia and India,” said Tim Buckley, director of the Sydney-based Climate Energy Finance think tank. Read more

Through initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China is strategically investing in renewable energy projects across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. These partnerships include funding solar farms, wind power plants, and hydropower projects, enabling developing nations to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Tim Buckley, chief of Climate Energy Finance, highlights how China’s financial and technological contributions are crucial for advancing global decarbonization goals. Read more

Green energy success is helping Beijing push back against western political pressure. Xuyang Dong, a China energy policy analyst at Climate Energy Finance, an Australian think-tank, argues that China’s renewable electricity generation, backed by huge investment in the power grid and energy storage, means coal will increasingly only be used as an emergency back-up before, “inevitably”, being phased out. Read more

The election of Donald Trump – a felon and climate crisis denier – as president of the United States comes as a stroke of bitter irony after recent floods exacerbated by global warming smashed parts of the southeast US – Hurricane Milton alone is likely to cost up to US$50 billion – and given the escalating intensity of wildfires and other natural disasters taking a huge toll on America and other countries. Trump’s “drill baby, drill” energy policies are a disaster for the US, intergenerational equity and global efforts to mitigate the climate crisis. Read more