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[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

CEF published a major report on the electrification and decarbonisation of the Pilbara in August 2024, that argued that AREH could be a key part of the solution. Tim Buckley and colleague CEF Net Zero Transformation Analyst Matt Pollard, believe that AREH has the potential to act as a model for the Pilbara in how private enterprise can effectively collaborate with state and federal governments to accelerate large-scale renewable energy projects. ‘Renewable energy hubs at the scale of AREH can provide significant cost advantages over distributed, smaller-scale renewable energy projects,’ they say. 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

Responding to the IEA’s World Energy Outlook which tracks an ‘unprecedented growth in renewables’ and says fossil fuels will peak before 2030, Tim Buckley said: “The fossil fuel era is drawing to an inevitable close. Our future prosperity depends on hastening our energy transition and repositioning as a value-adding trade and investment leader.” “We should be deploying our solar and wind to process our energy transition materials like green iron and the critical minerals essential for cleantech onshore pre-export.” 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 talks to ABC Illawarra about the surge to 73.6% renewables in Australia’s grid in early October, and what we need to do to drive higher renewables penetration to permanently slash power bills Read more

Tim Buckley comments on the record 73.6% renewables in the NEM last week, noting this is significant but more work is needed on CER and batteries to ensure we grasp our clean energy future – slashing energy bills for households and business 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