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China controls 80-90% of the global supply, holding vast reserves and dominates processing after investing early and strategically. But Australia has major skin in this game too. We have the world’s largest supply of lithium and abundant reserves of cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite and rare earths. Currently, our biggest customer is our #1 trade partner, with 90% of our lithium going to China. Now, Australia is being courted by the US as a potential key strategic partner in diversifying and securing its supply against the escalating backdrop of China-US tensions and retaliatory trade restrictions. Diversification of critical mineral supply chains will be high on the agenda in talks between Prime Minister Albanese and President Trump this week. Read more

This sends a clear signal to the international community about China’s sustained commitment to addressing climate change in line with the Paris Agreement. While the absolute reduction figure seems modest, China has a record of under-promising and over-delivering. For example, it surpassed its 2030 wind and solar power generation capacity target in July 2024, six years ahead of schedule. Over the last decade, it has systematically and rapidly implemented a transformative national plan of economy-wide decarbonisation through building the largest and fastest growing renewable energy system in the world while increasing its electrification rate at 10 percentage points per decade. Read more

Last week, BHP announced the axing of 750 jobs across its Queensland coking coal operations, including the mothballing of its Saraji South mine in the Bowen Basin and the strategic review of its FutureFit skills and training academy in Mackay as part of its efforts to alleviate cost pressures. This was the start of a chain reaction, with Anglo American announcing plans to cut nearly 300 jobs across its Queensland coal division, followed by QCOAL’s announcement of the closure of one of its two sites at the Cook Colliery mine in the days following. Read more

Climate Energy Finance (CEF) estimates that since the start of 2023, $75 billion of Federal Government funding and capital allocations have been made towards decarbonisation, electrification and the associated Future Made in Australia (FMIA) program, with another $6 billion of State allocations. Read more

The Albanese government will reportedly announce a new 2035 emissions reduction target this week. The pressure is now on. We have, for the first time, formal recognition from the government of the escalating risks of climate change and its devastating economic, health and social impacts in the form of the landmark National Climate Risk Assessment report. The picture it paints is apocalyptic. In line with the climate science, the Risk Assessment reports that future extreme weather is likely to present heightened risks to people, places and our way of life. Read more

The Albanese Government is reportedly set to announce its new National Determined Contributions ( NDCs) to 2035 this week – its emissions reduction targets under our Paris Agreement obligations. Today, the case for strong NDCs was definitively settled. The government’s National Climate Risk Assessment modelling paints a devastating picture of the economic, health and social impacts of climate change. Read more

CEF proposes that companies be required to reinvest any fuel tax credits above a $50 million annual cap into clean energy diesel alternatives, or forgo these credits (top FTC recipient companies currently claim hundreds of millions of dollars in credits annually). Fortescue, a major beneficiary of fuel tax credits, fully supports our proposal. This year alone, the scheme — a top 20 budget expense — is costing the public purse $11 billion, and this will climb to more than $13 billion a year by decade’s end. Republished from Renew Economy Read more

If Australia is serious about its climate commitments, fiscal sustainability and our generational opportunity to lead as a green energy and exports superpower, this handout that pays polluters to pollute is overdue for substantive reform. CEF proposes that companies be required to reinvest any fuel tax credits above a $50 million annual cap into clean energy diesel alternatives, or forgo these credits (top FTC recipient companies currently claim hundreds of millions of dollars in credits annually). Fortescue, a major beneficiary of fuel tax credits, fully supports our proposal. This year alone, the scheme – a top 20 budget expense – is costing the public purse $11 billion, and this will climb to over $13 billion a year by decade’s end. Read more

Blair Palese, founder of CEF partner Climate Capital Forum and CEF board member writes that “Australia faces a unique, time- sensitive economic opportunity. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has rightly put productivity at the heart of Australia’s economic agenda, outlining key pillars to create a dynamic, resilient and fu- ture-ready economy. But events in the US have dramatically ex- panded Australia’s potential economic opportunities.” Read more

China has already moved to reduce its dependence on Australian iron ore via a joint venture in Guinea to unlock a vast new high-grade deposit. In the context of these shifting trade dynamics, failure to position Australia now in the green steel supply chain with China is an opportunity cost that threatens to blow a +$50bn annual hole in Australian exports. In the face of these enormous opportunities and risks, it was highly significant this week to hear the PM and Australian iron ore business leaders reaffirm their commitment to working in partnership with China to jointly drive steel sector decarbonisation. Read more

The projected deflation of Australia’s export earnings is a lens to threats to our future economic resilience and security, while our key trading partners accelerate their economic decarbonisation and deliver on their Paris Agreement commitments. It is a stark reminder of the need to increase our economic complexity, to diversify from fossil fuels, which face inevitable structural decline, and to prioritise value adding our resources. The projections underscore the strategic importance, for example, to pivot to green iron production rather than shipping rocks of ore. 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