Media

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

As part of the USSC Debate Papers series, the Centre invited Xuyang Dong, China energy policy analyst at Climate Energy Finance, and Noah Gordon, acting co-director of the Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, to discuss whether the United States, Australia and other like-minded allies and partners should cooperate or compete with China when it comes to fighting climate change. Read more

[On Caixin] China has been a world leader in investing in cleantech outside its border, too. Between January 2023 and September this year, Chinese state-owned and private companies committed more than $100 billion in foreign direct investment in relevant industries, according to the CEF. The Australia-based think tank analyzed projects that were proposed, under construction, or completed during the period in a report it released on Oct. 2. “It is a significant number considering that there are no other countries who have invested so heavily into cleantech across the world like China has,” said Dong Xuyang, an analyst of China’s energy policies at CEF. Read more

Tim Buckley, told the Financial Times that “China was not just exporting its clean-tech manufacturing capacity surplus but was increasingly exporting its technology, engineering, supply chain and financing capacities.” Read more

Tim Buckley, from Climate Energy Finance, says the IEA report is still likely to be underestimating the deployment of renewables. “Each year the IEA upgrades their renewable energy estimates, having underestimated the deflation of solar and BESS, and underestimating the technology improvements in cleantech as well – wind, solar, BESS and EVs,” Buckley says. “As such, the IEA’s expectation of peaks in all types of fossil fuel energy types is likely still too conservative. This is great news, as clearly global scientists have likewise underestimated the compounding impacts of climate change. “China clearly leads the world in both the manufacturing, domestic installation and export of all cleantech aspects. Read more

Tim Buckley on the Energy Transition Show podcast on China’s stunning transition and decarbonisation progress in Australia and India: Read more

“China leads the world in clean tech – including solar, wind, batteries and new energy vehicles – with its investments more than double those of the US or the EU,” the Australian non-profit organisation Climate Energy Finance said in a report on October 2. Dong Xuyang, a China energy policy analyst with Climate Energy Finance and one of the report’s authors, said this year there has been a “material step up” of Chinese investments in Australian renewable energy projects. Dong said China provides cost-competitive clean tech to the global market, adding “trade barriers” from the US and EU “risk raising costs for domestic consumers and industries engaged in the energy transition”. Read more

The report, “Green capital tsunami: China’s >$100 billion outbound clean-tech investment since 2023 turbocharges global energy transition”, released on Oct 2 by the independent think tank Climate Energy Finance, or CEF, said Chinese firms have committed more than$100 billion in outbound foreign direct investment since 2023. Xuyang Dong, CEF’s China energy policy analyst and co-author of the report, said China leads the world in clean energy. “It is actively injecting more and more zero-emissions energy into its national power system even as it progressively shifts to electrifying everything and upgrading its energy policy to accelerate the energy transition progress,” she told China Daily. “China is increasingly the world leader in almost all these zero-emissions industries of the future, and that opens up opportunities to invest globally into clean energy,” she said. Dong said the problem for Australia is a “lack of effective communication and trust” between the two countries. Read more

Tim Buckley said the partnership between Australia’s SunDrive and leading Chinese solar panel manufacturer Trina is a strong positive for the federal government’s Solar Sunshot program and broader Future Made in Australia strategy. Read more

Tim Buckley says the partnership of leading Australian solar start-up SunDrive with China’s Trina solar is a great opportunity for the Australian industry to benefit from China’s clean energy nous to accelerate decarbonisation. Read more

Tim details CEF’s new report on the $100bn plus in cleantech capital China is investing around the world into solar, wind, EVs, batteries and more, including what Australia needs to go to attract this capital to speed our energy transition. Read more

Climate Energy Finance (CEF) has highlighted the billion-dollar opportunity in China’s outbound “green capital tsunami”. A new report from the think tank reveals Chinese firms have committed upwards of US$100 billion to outbound foreign investment since 2023 – spanning decarbonisation sectors like solar, wind, and green hydrogen – as the country’s corporates increasingly “go global”. And while other regions of the world have reaped the rewards of this unprecedented investment program, CEF notes that investment in Australia has been comparatively, “exceptionally weak”. Read more