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The now six-week-long conflict in the Middle East continues, massively disrupting global energy supplies with no end in sight. This underscores the energy security risk to Australia of its extreme dependency on imported oil and resulting exposure to international fossil fuel shocks in an increasingly geopolitically unstable world. The significant implications for national economic resilience are already apparent, with a fuel supply crunch and elevated foreign oil prices driving a cost of living crisis, inflationary pressures and surging interest rates here. At the time of writing, the Hormuz Strait, the critical chokepoint for 20 per cent of the world’s oil, including the Asian supply chains we rely on, remains blocked. Read more

Hot on the heels of a $10m capital raise, a local start-up is tapping investors again as it looks to play a leading role in the development of Australia’s fledgling green steel industry. DryFlow Magnetics is gearing up for new trials of its “dry magnetic separation” process, described as a potentially “game-changing” mineral processing and recovery technology. Development of the technology has been backed by grant funding from the CSIRO and the state government’s Seed-Start program. In a report released in November, think tank Climate Energy Finance suggested DryFlow’s technology could play a key role in unlocking South Australia’s nearly 20 billion tonnes of magnetite resources, which were key to Whyalla’s transformation into a green iron and steel hub. Read more

The US/Israel war on Iran is the latest geopolitical disruption to trigger a domestic cost-of-living crisis. Petrol and diesel prices are soaring, and the pain is spreading through mortgage rates, grocery bills, and falling super balances as markets slumps. This is no longer just a pump-price issue; it is a systemic shock to the Australian economy, repeating the fossil fuel hyperinflationary hit we all collectively suffered with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It is time for Australia to focus and value energy independence. Read more

New CEF report warns Australia’s dig-and-ship economy faces a clear and present threat as China systematically diversifies away from Australian supply across lithium, iron ore and critical minerals. Read more

New CEF report maps China’s vertically integrated green industrial strategy, and finds resource-rich nations increasingly forming win-win partnerships with Beijing. Read more

Australia’s green bank, industry and all levels of government are on notice to consider the nation’s “chronic climate risks” and invest accordingly. But it’s not too late to avert the worst of it, according to the first National Climate Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plan, which feed into the imminent 2035 emissions reduction pledge Australia must make under the Paris Agreement. Critical energy infrastructure is already vulnerable to bushfires, heatwaves and extreme heat, coastal inundation, extreme rainfall and associated flooding, tropical cyclones and extreme wind. Read more

One of Australia’s largest proposed coal projects could absorb more in diesel tax exemptions in its lifetime than the initial sum sunk into its construction, environmental groups say. About $44 million a year would be rebated to Whitehaven for its Winchester South coal mine under the fuel tax credit scheme, which is facing renewed scrutiny for its drag on public finances and decarbonisation goals. Read more

CEF’s new report finds that Australia’s largest taxpayer-funded fossil fuel subsidy – the diesel Fuel Tax Credit (FTC) Scheme – is entrenching dependence on imported high-emissions diesel to power mining operations, undermining climate targets, damaging productivity and draining tens of billions from the federal budget. Read more

Tim Buckley highlights the immense opportunity and risk for Australia in the global push for green steel. As the world’s […] Read more

The government’s $32 billion green bank says Labor’s net zero targets will be put out of reach in sectors such as aviation and long-haul trucking unless the government turbocharges investment in locally made low-carbon fuels. Read more

The key problem is that Snowy Hydro has built 7 new fossil fuel generation projects since the turn of this century, but has not built a single wind, solar or BESS project. The Snowy board is failing to align with and drive the Federal Government’s ambitious electricity decarbonisation agenda, nor build the replacement generation capacity we need to lower power prices for all. Read more

Have Australian CBAM enthusiasts been dreaming too small? Is an Asian CBAM the secret sauce for clean trade in our region? Have Frankie and Luke now read enough CBAM papers to level up and get a CBAM merit badge? Tennant licks his lips as your intrepid hosts devour a new report from Climate Energy Finance, ‘A Price On Carbon: Building Towards an Asian CBAM’. While this wasn’t necessarily the CBAM paper we were looking for, authors Matt Pollard and Tim Buckley make carbon pricing padawans of us all – and maybe all those DFAT folks who need to use the force to sell this idea – and give us the basic commands for a future Asian CBAM Read more