Media

The federal government could save $14 billion by capping the fuel tax credit for large mining companies and use the funds to drive the electrification of the sector, think tank Climate Energy Finance says. The fuel tax credit scheme, which allows businesses to claim for tax paid on fuel used to power machinery and heavy vehicles, will cost taxpayers $37 billion by 2030 unless the government sets a limit on how much they can claim, a report by the think tank says. Report co-author Tim Buckley said the tax credit scheme was the nation’s largest fossil fuel subsidy and one of the biggest in the world. Read more

CEF joined The call for a ten-year $100 billion Australian Renewables Industry Package to respond to the US IRA, endorsed by partners including the Australian Conservation Foundation, Australian Council of Trade Unions, Climate Action Network Australia, First Nations Clean Energy Network, New Energy Nexus, Rewiring Australia and the Smart Energy Council. Read more

Tim Buckley speaking on ABC Radio AM as part of the coalition of industry, business, union and community groups calling on the Albanese Government to invest $100bn over the next decade to compete in the global race to develop renewable energy industries. Read more

At the Australian Renewables Industry summit in Canberra on Monday unions, the renewable energy sector, community and investor groups will call for the package to respond to massive investment overseas including the US’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Climate Energy Finance’s founder, Tim Buckley, said, “we need a far more integrated and ‘big picture’ approach to encourage greater investment, commensurate with the scale of this massive renewables and critical minerals and metals embodied decarbonisation export opportunity for Australia”. Read more

Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley told The Australian Financial Review an integrated approach to investment was needed, to benefit local communities, Indigenous Australians and future workers. “To leave it to the free market is just, in my view, to be deluded,” he said. “The IRA has stimulated a massive, massive manufacturing boom. The amount of money going into manufacturing in America in the last 12 months is four times the highest level of any previous year in American history.” He said the strict rules of funding attached to programs meant a rethink was needed in Australia. Read more

Fossil fuel subsidies in Australia reached $11 billion in 2022-23, extending decades of direct capital transfers and tax concessions to some of Australia’s most polluting industries and making Australia one of the G20’s largest providers of subsidies for fossil fuels. The scale of the impact to our economy is enormous. The FTCS is the largest fossil fuel subsidy in Australia and is the 18th largest government expense program in 2023-24. The federal government estimates the FTCS will cost over $9.5 billion in tax concessions in 2023-24 alone, with the credits largely going to Australia’s bulk commodity and fossil fuel mining firms. Read more

A group of organisations is calling for a $100 billion investment in clean energy technology over the next 10 years, to counter the enormous spending already committed internationally.They say that incentives worth $100 billion would deliver at least $300 billion in annual clean export revenue by 2035 and 700,000 direct jobs, mainly in rural and regional Australia. The funding pot would be to support new industries in anything from green iron and steel to advanced manufacturing such as solar and wind componentry, to transmission infrastructure and clean energy exports. “A $100 billion package will help re-industrialise the nation,” said Climate Energy Finance founder Tim Buckley. Read more

Tim Buckley says we have a ‘once-in-a-generation’ chance to pivot our economy towards industries of the future. Australia imports 29 billion litres of high emissions, inflationary diesel each year, heavily subsidised by the Federal Government, critically undermining Australia’s climate and green manufacturing ambitions. A cap to the fuel rebate scheme would create a tailwind for electrifying Australia’s mining fleet, deploying the best technology to become a world leader in embedded decarbonisation. Read more

Australia could kick start the electric truck era by curbing off-road diesel rebates that go to the mining sector, economic modelling shows. A report to be released by independent think tank Climate Energy Finance on Monday calls for the diesel fuel tax credit (FTC) for the mining sector to be capped at $50 million a year per company.”This is not a revenue grab, we’re trying to encourage them to do the right thing,” co-author Tim Buckley told AAP. He said Australia must deal with the “hyper-inflationary” dependence on imported high-emissions diesel and build onshore manufacturing. Australia needs its biggest companies to be “leaders not laggards” on electrification and emissions reduction, he said. “This is all about them having a policy tailwind to back their own strategy of decarbonisation,” he said. Read more

Climate analyst Tim Buckley said the EPA “courageously” attempted to tackle the climate challenge when there was a policy vacuum at a national level. He said withdrawal of the guidelines meant there had been four years of inaction with the federal government only just implementing an effective safeguard mechanism, when in reality the original policy wouldn’t have cost the industry much at all to comply with. “The burden on the industry is nothing compared to the profits the industry makes,” Mr Buckley said. Read more

Tim Buckley has a menu of “no regrets” investments in renewables that NSW Energy Minister Sharpe and the Treasurer Mookhey should consider regardless of Eraring. They include: backing with front-loaded finance and accelerated planning approvals 1200MW of utility scale renewables and 1200MW of distributed (customer-owned) renewables each year until 2030; accelerating the rollout of rooftop solar and batteries in public housing and schools across NSW; accelerating the frequency and ambition of Renewable Energy Zones auctions; cajoling NSW transmission and distribution companies to use tech company Neara to identify existing spare grid capacity for new renewables to be plugged in (it reckons there’s room for 10,000MW); and accelerating electrification for rentals and behind-the-meter batteries. Read more

What is the real cost to transition? The cost of retaining Eraring for an additional 1-2 years would be $200-$400 per year. Eraring has no long term supply locked in beyond 2025, therefore will pay export price parity for coal supply. Locking in coal infrastructure will slow down the transition to renewables. We need to accelerate the deployment of low cost, zero emissions, replacement capacity, not continue with an unreliable coal clunker. Coal subsidies will crowd out replacement capacity that would otherwise permanently solve the problem. Read more