Media

China is electrifying its economy at breakneck speed. That includes transportation – cars, trucks, trains, buses, etc. – that Canada is counting on as a new market for its oil exports. There’s more bad news for Alberta: other Asian countries are copying China’s energy model. 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

Brendan Lang knows a bit about going electric. The tradie from Melbourne’s north installs electrical appliances, including rooftop solar panels and batteries, in homes transitioning away from gas. So when the time came to replace his Volkswagon Amarok ute, he opted for an EV, figuring it would eventually save him money and help his business. But that decision, he says, was based on the availability of a generous tax break introduced by Labor in 2022. 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

The weekend saw a seismic escalation in the conflict in the Middle East, as the US bombed Iran’s key uranium enrichment facilities. This followed Israel’s campaign of military intervention on the justification that Iran must be prevented from developing nuclear capabilities. The situation represents a dramatic increase in geopolitical instability in the region – a key source of global fossil fuel energy production and exports – and has potentially dire consequences for worldwide energy markets and economies dependent on imports for their energy needs. Australia is one such economy. Read more

Electricity prices in South East Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales are set to rise from 1 July, with NSW seeing an 8–10% increase under the Default Market Offer (DMO). Some providers, such as Momentum Energy, are raising rates by up to 25%. Energy Minister Chris Bowen will today announce a review of the DMO, aiming to prioritise public interest over energy company profits. Tim Buckley, Director of Climate Energy Finance, criticised the current system, urging consumers to shop around annually to avoid a “loyalty tax”. While reforms are expected next year, households will face higher prices in the meantime. Read more

Electrification and decarbonization are key global themes in 2025, as are rapidly changing geopolitical circumstances. While some countries are abrogating their global commitments to act on climate science while upending world trade, there is also a growing interest in re-aligning towards countries and regions keen to pursue enhanced cooperation and collaboration. As the environmental and economic costs of climate change continue to rise, both the economics and energy independence benefits of the 28th session of the Conference of Parties (COP28) pledge by almost 200 countries back in 2023 to triple renewable energy deployments by 2030 looks more and more strategically compelling Read more

Tim’s Expert view published on The Energy Co: “Australia is absolutely walking both sides of the street, as we saw with the Albanese government’s approval of a 40 year extension on the North West Shelf gas processing plant. We are still a major, top three fossil fuel exporter. The incumbent industry is still very powerful politically in Australia, and that undermines Australia’s long term strategic national interest, in my view. Read more

“Our governments have repeatedly failed to prevent the gouging of multinational corporations profiteering at our expense, using our public resources,” he says. With the increasing cost of transmission and distribution — often simplified to “poles and wires” — and the need to further modernise our grid, he wants government to embrace what he calls the “massive battery disruption” now underway. Read more

Tim Buckley, Climate Energy Finance Director, says energy costs are rising across the board—network, wholesale, retail—driven in part by long-term […] Read more

According to corporate announcements and financial statements compiled by Climate Energy Finance, a Sydney-based research group, Chinese companies have, since the start of 2023, committed $156bn in outbound foreign direct investment across more than 200 clean technology transactions. This effort is expanding Beijing’s political and economic influence globally just as the Trump administration pursues a hard decoupling from Chinese supply chains and roils global trade Read more

Highlights Federal election has been called this morning – for 3rd May 2025 Budget – not much climate or energy information in the budget, perhaps there’s more to be announced during the election. BYD’s amazing stats. Matt Pollard’s oped in RenewEconomy. 120,000 R&D staff!!! EV momentum Tim shares overall EV market stats, perhaps a lowlight for Tesla. Caroline’s Wang work on electricity generation stats. Highlighting the first two months of 2025 performance. Harry Martin’s International Solar PV and Bess Manufacturing Trends. See Climate Energy Finance report. Read more