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China remains ahead in leading global cleantech investment during its domestic renewable energy expansion. While the investment in renewables is unevenly split across the world, China continues to mobilise capital to the Global South to help developing countries in energy transition. 2023 is the tipping point for China to peak its coal use as well as its emissions. Australia should seize this opportunity to work with China, as well as other countries, in order to become a renewable superpower. Read more

JERA and Beach, two fossil fuel dinosaurs, announce a strategic pivoting into offshore wind, leveraging their financial firepower and offshore engineering expertise, respectively, to capitalise on this major new renewable energy opportunity in offshore wind in Australia. Read more

We track the key energy news of the last fortnight, including the new Aus-US compact which will potentially make Australian companies and projects eligible for funding under the ~$800bn US Inflation Reduction Act. Read more

As AER flags significant electricity price hikes from July 1, we note that these increases are half what they would have been without the federal government intervention to cap wholesale coal and gas prices in December 2022, as AER acknowledged. Our expectation is that retail prices may have peaked, and we look at the prospects for power prices against the backdrop of the rise of deflationary renewables and global race to decarbonisation. Read more

As CEF China energy policy analyst Xuyang Dong writes, renewables are now leading China’s newly added power capacity for the first time, even as new coal power plants continue to come online. During the first quarter of 2023, China added a record 50 GW of RE capacity. Read more

Overnight, US President Biden and Australian PM Albanese announced a groundbreaking bilateral agreement which will increase cooperation between the two countries on energy transition, with a focus on critical minerals and cleantech supply chain. Read our initial analysis of what this means for Australia, especially in the context of the massive $800bn US inflation Reduction Act turbocharging energy transition there. Read more

As APPEA members and lobbyists gather for the annual gas shills’ jamboree and talkfest, we take a forensic look at Resources Minister Madeleine King’s keynote address, and deconstruct the baseless claim that we need more gas – when what we need is a fast, dramatic and wholesale pivot to value-adding critical minerals and energy transition materials onshore, backed by a landmark injection of public investment. With the world responding to the game-changing $1tn US Inflation Reduction Act, we delay, we lose. And the train is leaving the station. Read more

Last week, BNP Paribas (BNPP) released its oil and gas financing policy committing the bank to excluding the financing of new oil and gas fields, and making it the second largest bank in the world, after HSBC, to make such a commitment. This builds on BNPP’s target of January 2023 that by 2030, low-carbon energies would account for 4/5 of the Group’s financing for energy production. Read more

We take a close look at Budget 2023/24, finding the new $4bn in funding around renewables leaves us short of the capital needed to position Australia as a cleantech superpower and respond to the US IRA, as new figures from China show a staggering surge in RE installs Read more

The Federal Budget is a mixed bag for climate and energy with a serious case of underreach on fixing the failed PRRT gas tax, but some good policy and funding progress on a National Net Zero Authority, energy bill relief and home and business electrification, and measures to respond to the global race to renewables, such as $2bn for a green Hydrogen Headstart program – all in the context of a massive surprise $4.2bn surplus. However, we need to see more fiscal ambition to respond to game-changing international policy and funding reforms such as the US Inflation Reduction Act that are turbocharging global energy transition. Read more

China continues to lead the world in all aspects of the global development of zero emissions industries of the future, both in terms of domestic deployment and manufacturing supply chains, both for domestic and export purposes. To meet increasing electricity demand, China is deploying both more coal power plants and more renewables. However, renewables are now leading China’s newly added power capacity. Read more

An exciting report has emerged that India’s draft new National Electricity Policy (NEP) has proposed that India stop building of new coal-fired power plants beyond those already under construction. Without getting too excited preemptively, this strategic shift is potentially a critical, globally significant milestone in decarbonisation. Read more