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Treasury has opened its consultation on a sustainable finance strategy that promises to strengthen the ability for Australia’s financial markets to allocate capital to decarbonising Australia’s economy. One of its priorities is a sustainable finance ‘taxonomy’ that will establish what economic activities warrant the special consideration by green and transition-labelled finance pools focused on mitigating the effects of climate change. The potential leverage includes Australia’s $3.5tn superfund pool, the banking sector’s collective $400bn in sustainable finance targets, and the Government’s proposed Green Bond program. However, this mobilisation of capital for decarbonisation will only succeed if the taxonomy is credible and achieves widespread market adoption. Read more

We welcome and applaud the Treasurer’s focus today on 4 key industry and economic opportunities, which reflect the key priorities CEF and its partners have identified: refining and processing critical minerals; supporting manufacturing of generation and storage technologies, including batteries; producing renewable hydrogen and its derivatives like ammonia; and forging green metals including green iron. We need to see further details, but the Treasurer’s assertion that $225bn capital investment is needed by 2050 is too low by orders of magnitude, this timeframe is too late, and it reveals a too-cautious federal policy mindset that risks forgoing Australia’s opportunity to position itself as a leader in global cleantech supply chains as the world moves at breakneck speed to decarbonise. Read more

China’s renewables expansion remained strong in September, with 22.6GW of zero emissions capacity added. Hydropower continued to recover in September, reaching 139TWh, up 40.8% y-o-y. In contrast there was only a 2.8% y-o-y increase in thermal power capacity. This month saw China celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI) with a pledge of $107bn over the next five years. In the meantime, China’s massive scaling-up of solar manufacturing has changed global solar dynamics triggering a rapid price deflation of solar components and taking prices to record lows. Read more

Modernising the nation’s $10tn housing stock promises to ease cost of living pressures, improve the health and comfort of homes, whilst helping to solve climate change. Australian banks are the main entry point to financing home energy performance upgrades. With a combined 46% mortgage market share, CBA and Westpac have powerful levers to help transform and decarbonise the sector. Read more

The $2bn top up for the federal Critical Minerals Facility pledged by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during his state visit to the US this week is an entirely insufficient response to the US$1 trillion industrial and energy stimulus of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA is the biggest commitment of public funding in US history – and the single biggest opportunity for Australia this generation. Here’s why. Read more

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With Sweden’s H2GS building the world’s first large-scale green steel plant and Europe’s first giga-scale electrolyser, we look at the massive opportunity for Australia – the world’s biggest producer of iron ore – to lead in the production of green iron, and the conditions that make this possible: substantial national interest public capital investment to trigger private investment at scale, and a massive decarbonisation of our grid to supply 100% green energy for processing. We must do more than dig and ship! Read more

China’s renewable leadership offers challenges and opportunities on the path to global decarbonization. In August 2023, China’s renewable energy sector gained momentum with increased hydropower generation after months of droughts. Solar and wind power continued to dominate new capacity additions. Zero emissions capacity is now accounting for 50% of China’s total installed capacity. While China prioritizes economic development over rapid fossil fuel phase-out, EU raises concerns about China’s renewable supply chain dominance due to China’s rapid renewable manufacturing expansion. Nonetheless, this presents an opportunity for emerging markets to accelerate their energy transitions. To meet global net-zero goals, China and other developed nations must invest in emerging economies. Read more

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Tim Buckley of CEF and Climate and Capital Forum founder Blair Palese argue that $100bn of government strategic public-interest capital investment into an Australian Renewables Industry Package and value-adding critical minerals industry development is needed to crowd in $200-300bn of private capital. This would be an appropriately ambitious response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), commensurate with Australia’s massive domestic and export opportunity. Read more

Our new report argues Australia’s mining sector should become a global leader in electrification of mine equipment, developing onshore battery, recycling and EV manufacturing supply chains and embodying decarbonisation in our commodity exports as a key competitive advantage. We could do this by capping the diesel fuel rebate to $50m pa per firm, clawing back $14bn in tax revenue to 2030 and investing that money in kickstarting an electrified mining transport industry here Read more