Media

Janaline Oh of Diplomats for Climate Action and Tim Buckley argue that to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by Australia’s wealth of renewable energy and critical minerals, we must mobilise our own considerable domestic public financial capital to support national decarbonisation objectives, so as to de-risk and “crowd in” private investment, presenting 5 key reforms to do this. Read more

“We have been a dig and ship country for 50 years,” says Tim Buckley. “Fifty per cent of the entire world’s lithium supply came from Australia last year. We have the opportunity to play at world scale, as we do in iron ore, as we do in gold, and as we do in thermal coal” but we must do more to value-add by processing onshore. Read more

“America has announced 40 gigawatts of new solar module manufacturing capacity in the last six months, on the back of the Inflation Reduction Act – a six-fold expansion [in] American solar module manufacturing capacity. China has announced 294 gigawatts of new solar module manufacturing capacity in just the last three months, all of which will be commissioned within the next two years, if not sooner,” says Buckley. “The IEA says China accounted for 65 per cent of global clean tech manufacturing factory expansions in the first three months of this year.” Read more

Tim Buckley described the US-Australia Climate and Energy Compact announced this week as a critically-important development in the context of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which is turbocharging the energy transformation in the US with upwards of $800 billion of federal investment in clean energy initiatives and attracting a massive influx of global capital to the US, opening up huge investment opportunities for Australian companies. Read more

Tim Buckley shares his insights on the new US-Australia Climate Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact. He views this as a geopolitical statement of global significance for Australia, demonstrating strategic intent to collaborate on critical minerals, climate, and clean energy., also emphasising the importance of Congress ratifying President Biden’s commitment for the agreement to be realised. Read more

Tim Buckley says the new US-Australia Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact agreed by US President Biden and PM Albanese provides a landmark policy statement of strategic intent, formalising collaboration and coordination of policies and investments to expand and diversify the clean energy and critical minerals supply chains that underpin global decarbonisation. Read more

This last weekend, US President Biden and PM Albanese agreed a landmark compact for bilateral cooperation on climate and energy, which will massively boost inbound investment and elevate Australia’s potential to lead the world in production of value-added critical minerals, green hydrogen and materials key to the energy transition, as Tim Buckley explains. Read more

“We’ve now got this massive policy and fiscal stimulus on anything to do with decarbonisation. In some respects, it’s a response to the geopolitics of China American trade relations,” Tim Buckley says. Read more

Tim Buckley on the budget’s support for the Capacity Investment Mechanism replacing the LNP’s Coalkeeper: ““With the inevitable acceleration of coal-fired power plant closures, and the ongoing delays to the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro storage project, this will play a critical role of crowding-in private capital for accelerated battery storage investments to complement the rapid renewable energy capacity buildout of the states-led renewable energy zones.” Read more

Tim Buckley: “$4 billion in new funding to make Australia a renewable energy superpower, takes total funding to $40 billion including the previously announced programs,” but this is well below the cumulative $100 billion of public capital Climate Energy Finance considers is required to crowd-in $200-300 billion of private capital investment to position Australia as a global leader in energy transition and ensure our energy security and independence.” Read more

Our detailed Federal Budget 2023 wrap: we find that overall it’s sensible and measured, with serious attention to fiscal repair and capacity building. The energy bill relief is essential, there is strong decarbonisation progress – including the Net Zero Authority, $2bn for green hydrogen and home and business electrification packages – but more funding is needed to supercharge the transition. The marginal reforms to the PRRT are a case of serious policy underreach, and the lack of attention to corporate tax and diesel rebate reform are disappointing. Read more

Tim Buckley in an extensive interview on AusBiz discusses the good, the bad and the ugly in the 2023/24 Federal Budget Read more