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The Australian Energy Market Operator released an update of its Electricity Statement of Opportunities overnight. It confirms significant progress on decarbonising our grid in the last six months, coupled with the urgent need for accelerated investment in new generation, energy storage and transmission to ensure reliable supply as fossil fuels exit the grid, flagging a staggering 209 gigawatt pipeline of new firmed #renewables proposals worth over A$250 billion, and highlighting how decarbonisation is unlocking massive regional employment and investment opportunities. Read more

Our latest take on the federal government’s overhaul of a centrepiece climate policy- the Safeguard Mechanism. Yes, it is imperfect. The unlimited use of offsets particularly problematic and they should be a last resort. However, it is a massive win – and opportunity – in that it provides the critical policy architecture for a permanent, high price on carbon, incentivising decarbonisation and investment in clean tech, and it must be understood in the context of the government’s ecosystem of major policy reforms that collectively make significant headway after a devastating decade of LNP policy failure. Read more

A new study in Nature Energy released overnight quantifies the devastating toll of global energy price hyperinflation, with household energy costs spiking up to 113% in 2022.The report said the price crisis could push up to 141 million people into extreme poverty. Meanwhile, as Tim Buckley notes in this analysis, fossil fuel multinationals have extracted massive war superprofits, bringing to the fore again the case for proper taxation of these corporates. Read more

Our 6th and latest instalment on the Hindenburg washup: While Adani is the biggest private coal developer in the world, the Adani Group had also pledged to invest US$70bn in green industries this decade, suggesting at face value that a setback for Adani is a setback to India’s energy transition. CEF would argue otherwise. Prior to January 2023, Adani was, at best, walking both sides of the street, deploying greenwashing to raise foreign capital, and leveraging global capital markets to expand its fossil fuel interests as it leveraged crony capitalism at home. Read Tim Buckley’s latest analysis. Read more

The fifth and latest in our analyses of Adani in the light of research firm Hindenburg’s allegations of “the largest con in world history”. The Adani family conglomerate proudly professes its exceptionally high environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings. Its slogan says it all: “Growth with Goodness”. But while Adani group is one of the largest investors in green energy, it is also the largest private developer of new coal mines and coal-fired power plants in the world, and has won Government of India support to massively expand its fossil fuel related exposures with new coal-to-plastics plants, LNG import terminals, oil bunkers and gas reticulation systems throughout India. Tim Buckley looks at whether the green claims stack up Read more

CEF has tracked the Adani family for a decade, and their elevation has one key cornerstone – crony capitalism. Our close examination of financial and contractual interactions between government entities and the Adani Group shows that, to become the first amongst equals in India, the Adani family has had considerably more than its fair share of support, particularly since 2014. While the list is very long, in this analysis, Tim Buckley outline some examples below. Read more

Tim Buckley with some further reflections on the Adani crisis, noting the allegations from Hindenburg are not going to go away. For its part, Hindenburg is very comfortable with its legal position. They have effectively issued an open invitation to Adani to sue if they want to experience discovery. That challenge from Wall Street gives credibility to the substance of the report. Read more

Is Adani a corporate Hindenburg? – our reflections on the explosive report; Safeguard Mechanism progresses; the new Climate Capital Forum launches its policy roadmap to decarbonisation; AEMO dynamics report shows acceleration of RE and decline of coal and gas in the grid; our submission to the federal critical minerals consultation and more Read more

Tim Buckley notes there are striking parallels between the origins of the collapse of Germany company Wirecard under the weight of the biggest corporate fraud in that country in decades, and the Adani crisis triggered by the Hindenburg report, including the failures of regulatory scrutiny. While Wirecard went bankrupt when its corporate wrongdoing was finally exposed, the Adani allegations are as yet unproven, and require close examination by the US SEC and Securities and Exchange Board of India. Read more

Tim Buckley has been a keen watcher of Adani for over a decade. Read his full analysis of the explosive allegations by US based research firm and activist short seller Hindenburg that the conglomerate has engaged in the “largest con in corporate history” involving accounting fraud, insider trading, and money laundering. Do the allegations stack up, what needs to be done, and what are the implications for Australia and Adani’s Carmichael coal mine, the subject of a massive decade long grassroots campaign that deprived the company of its social licence here. Read more

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) released its fourth quarter of 2022 Quarterly Energy Dynamics report today. It is a welcome reminder that the energy transition is well established and accelerating beyond expectations. While rampant fossil fuel price hyperinflation caused mass disruption in 2022, the underlying trends are clear – and the burgeoning of renewables and decline of coal and gas in the grid ultimately spell permanent price relief. After the historic Q4 federal government intervention to cap wholesale prices of gas and coal, prices on the electricity futures market more than halved in the final three months of 2022, as renewables set new records. Read more

Post the Safeguard Mechanism and ACCU reviews, Australia finally has the framework for a credible carbon price, the key driver of energy transition; gas wars hot up; our latest analysis of Australia’s critical minerals, new economy metals and manufacturing opportunities, looking at embodied decarbonisation; and our most recent bank assessment, this time focussing on CBA. Read more