Media

In this analysis, Tim Buckley looks at Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ call to back the FIRB recommendation to reject a Chinese-linked fund’s increased equity stake in emerging Australian critical minerals developer, Northern Minerals, in the context of Australia’s massive and burgeoning opportunity to lead the world in value-added critical minerals. Read more

Tim Buckley notes that for building and pest reports, the “caveat emptor” principle applies, and the onus is on the buyer to obtain any necessary knowledge. “Sellers are going to be reluctant to provide climate risk information. They’ll be virtually admitting “I bought in a flood plain 40 years ago.” Buckley believes it is up to the government to provide accurate information, although if they don’t already own it, they will need to either pay to acquire the data or cover the cost of reports from private providers. Read more

Tim Buckley comments that the Safeguard Mechanism installed by the former LNP government “has been 100% ineffective over the last couple of years at doing anything but giving heavy industries a free excuse to keep on polluting,” Under the SGM reforms put in place by the current government “the value of carbon credits is likely to go up over time quite rapidly toward the cap,” of A$75/mtCO2e set by the government – a credible and rising price on carbon to incentivise decarbonisation. Read more

Adam Bandt says the emissions pact struck with Chris Bowen will kill off Betaloo Basin gas projects. Shares in gas companies Empire and Tamboran took an immediate hit. Tim Buckley weighs the frackers’ deficient responses on their emissions risks. Read more

Our op ed in today’s Canberra Times on the deal struck yesterday between the Labor federal government and the Greens with the support of the Teals and David Pocock, which will see an improved Safeguard Mechanism, designed to cut emissions from Australia’s biggest polluters, finally signed into law. Read more

“Industry is broadly supportive of the [incoming NSW ALP government’s] energy transition plan, but experts told The Fifth Estate more detail was needed on how cities will be fully electrified in coming years. ‘We’ve seen talk from the federal and state energy ministers that we need to do an electrification of everything and we haven’t seen any detail. The property sector is the obvious starting point,’ said Tim Buckley.” Read more

SMH reviews the deal struck between the government and the Greens to ensure passage of the Safeguard Mechanism through parliament: “Tim Buckley calculates the cost of offsetting rather than reducing emissions to be $5 billion annually by 2030. ‘Industry can’t just afford a hit like that,’ he says. ‘Solutions once considered unviable are now immediately financially inevitable’.” Read more

Tim Buckley breaks down the deal struck today by the federal government with the Greens to support its proposed Safeguard mechanism legislation, with some amendments – including a hard cap on emissions, and some significant advances on limiting and reporting methane, a key driver of climate change and 70% of the emissions covered by the SGM. Read more

Tim Buckley refute assertions by the opposition that the safeguard deal struck today will raise energy prices, noting any price increases arising from the mechanism would be “immaterial”: “The impact of the safeguard mechanism on the Australian consumer is almost immaterial in terms of the overall impact of energy prices and resulting wider inflation. Extreme weather events have a much greater impact on businesses’ bottom line than any costs they would incur under the legislation, with the $8.5 billion in losses caused by flooding in 2022 alone exemplifying how the costs of inaction on climate far exceed any “costs” of decarbonisation. Read more

Professor Ian Lowe’s op ed on his new methane report (release supported by CEF) throws a spotlight on the elephant in the room of the Safeguard Mechanism debate currently at the pointy end in federal parliament: the outsized contribution to our emissions budget of the climate-wrecking greenhouse gas methane, and the need for increased ambition and rigour in the SGM framework to account for and reduce it. Read more

In this Safeguard mechanism explainer across News Corp papers, Tim Buckley notes that “any price increases arising from the safeguard mechanism would be “immaterial” in terms of the overall impact of energy prices and resulting wider inflation, with extreme weather events having a much greater impact on an Australian business’s bottom line than any costs they would incur under the mechanism”, citing the “$8.5 billion in losses caused by flooding in 2022 alone”. The story further covers the findings of Professor Ian Lowe’s report that the legislation for the safeguard mechanism radically underestimates Australia’s current and future methane emissions, and its massive climate impacts. Read more

Across Canberra Times and 100+ mastheads, Tim Buckley comments on the new report by Professor by Ian Lowe revealing that methane comprises the 70% of emissions from fossil fuel facilities under the Safeguard mechanism: “The report highlights the critical need to differentiate between methane and carbon dioxide, and endorses an emissions budget as an additional safeguard. Setting a maximum limit on emissions for this decade would mean new entrants would be determined within that budget, and not freely added to national emissions.” Read more