Media

Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, today hailed Federal Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s decision to expand the Capacity Investment Scheme to a targeted 32GW, a huge stepchange in ambition. Read more

CEF partner and advisory board member, Blair Palese, founder of the Climate Capital Forum, makes a powerful case for Australia to step up its transition investment ambition ahead of COP and in light of the US Inflation Reduction Act. Read more

Origin’s vertical integration business model is key to the Brookfield acquisition bid, according to Tim Buckley. He said that the retail and industrial client base was key to Brookfield both in the Origin bid and in the 2022 bid for AGL led by Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures and Brookfield. “All of this is predicated on the value of the retail customer base that Origin and AGL have,” Buckley noted. “That customer base is about vertical integration and industrial customers as well. “The key asset for Origin is they have the best retail technology platform in the world.” Read more

Our op ed on PM Albanese’s state visit to the US. While the visit was touted as a platform for major announcements on investment into an Australian response to the game-changing Inflation Reduction Act, there was a lot of talk, but only $2bn for Australian critical minerals – entirely insufficient relative to the scale of our opportunity to lead the world in processing of minerals onshore. Read our full analysis. Read more

Tim Buckley in Tasmanian Times: “Offshore wind is a key scaleable decarbonisation solution for the world. Installations globally are expected to increase dramatically this coming decade as China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, India and the US all look to leverage the massive experience achieved in Europe over the last decade. There is an enormous pipeline of investment proposals in this new field emerging globally.” Read more

A profound investment surge in renewables, heat pump, batteries and EV manufacturing capacity globally is underway, with annual global manufacturing capacities of each due to double every 24 months at the current run rate, Tim Buckley of Climate Energy Finance (CEF) told MWM. Read more

Tim Buckley, Director of Climate Energy Finance highlights the remarkable advancements in renewable energy made by China, with a particular emphasis on solar and wind power. Tim is impressively captivated by China’s prodigious expansion in the energy field, recognising that it has surpassed other nations by installing an astonishing fivefold increase in renewable energy. He draws attention to China’s tactical approach, noting that an impressive 156 gigawatts of wind and solar have been set up within a span of eight months, signifying a substantial 120% escalation compared to the previous year. Read more

As Elizabeth Thurbon et al write in The Lowy Interpreter, the Australian Renewable Industry Package is a $100 billion, ten-year green energy transition package proposed by a coalition of groups including Climate Energy Finance, the Smart Energy Council, and the Australian Council of Trade Unions. This was no knee-jerk or panicked effort, but a considered view on a proportionate Australian response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – a $520 billion bipartisan bid to secure US dominance in the high-wage, high-tech green industries of the future. The IRA is now sucking a good deal of green energy investment away from Australia, requiring a policy response from Canberra commensurate with Australia’s generational opportunity. Read more

In a feature on better utilisation of consumer energy resources to speed transition, the AFR notes that recently, Marsden Jacob Associates’ Cameron O’Reilly, Electrify Australia founder Saul Griffith and Climate Energy Finance’s Tim Buckley have pushed for more solar and batteries on household, business and public buildings to accelerate decarbonisation while large projects are built. Read more

According to a report released today by Climate Energy Finance (CEF), capping the diesel fuel rebate (the Fuel Tax Credit Scheme – FCT) would save $14 billion over 7 years. It could also help to kick-start a mining electric vehicle industry in Australia, including export opportunities. Read more

Australian Mine Safety Journal reports that restricting fossil fuel incentives could accelerate the transition towards environmentally friendly alternatives, a study found. “This is not a revenue grab we are trying to encourage them to do the right thing,” Climate Energy Finance Corporation founding director Tim Buckley said according to the Australian Associated Press. Buckley suggested extra taxpayer money should be spent on luring Liebherr, Komatsu, Caterpillar and more to expand their domestic electric vehicle operations. Read more

Tim Buckley told AusBiz that CEF calls for a new $100bn new capital and direct budget investment in renewables and energy transition over the next decade, as a response to Biden’s IRA, with half to focus on domestic electrification and decarbonisation, another half to focus on value-added energy transition materials exports. Part of this could be funded by a cap on the diesel rebate to mining. Read more