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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

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

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

Tim Buckley’s presentation to the board of Argo Investments takes a deep dive into global energy transition, looking at major policy initiatives and capital inflows accelerating decarbonisation in the US, China, India, the EU, Canada and Korea, with a focus the implications for Australian policy and investment. 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

China Energy Policy Analyst Xuyang Dong argues: “Australia is being remade into an active and helpful middle power in its region with its own agency, constructively and strategically navigating its presence in the geopolitics of growing China-US rivalry.” Read more

Tim Buckley’s presentation to the Smart Energy Council conference looks at the massive global acceleration of decarbonisation, including via the funding and policy reforms of Biden’s IRA which has turbocharged the transition in the US. What are the implications for the imminent Federal Budget if Australia to position itself as a global leader in the new cleantech world economy? Read more

CEF’S Matt Pollard takes a close look at global EV sales in the first quarter of 2023, and finds the industry is booming off the back of a massive acceleration in decarbonisation momentum globally. Read more

In this presentation to UBS, Tim Buckley looks at key global energy transition themes and drivers including RE price deflation, pricing emissions, market returns, China’s leadership on decarbonisation, key international policy and funding initiatives e.g. the US IRA and EU NZIA (Net Zero Industry Act), India’s PLI, South Korea and Japan’s GX Roadmap, and Australia’s opportunity to position itself as a pre-export value-adding critical minerals superpower. Read more

In this presentation for the Moir Group, Tim Buckley looks at key trends in the energy transition including renewable energy price deflation, emissions pricing, market returns, China’s dominance in decarbonisation, the US Inflation Reduction Act and the EU Net Zero Industry Act, and Australia’s once in a century opportunity to lead the world in critical minerals and energy transition materials value-added processing and manufacturing, powered by renewables. Read more

Public discourse on national security in Australia is evolving, while geopolitics and sovereign security are inarguably important, Australian society also cares about the economy and issues such as resilience in the face of the impacts of the climate and energy crisis. Diversifying Australia’s security strategy to encompass these concerns is an urgent matter because China is no longer the only, or major, threat to the world – or to Australia. Climate change and the energy crisis are clearly endangering Australia’s national interests now, and require more nuanced conversations to tackle. Read more

This week saw Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers make the call to back the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) recommendation to reject a Chinese-linked fund’s increased equity stake in an emerging Australian critical minerals developer, Northern Minerals, which is set to mine the rare earth dysprosium, used as an additive in neodymium magnets for electric vehicle motors. We look at the geopolitical implications of this move in the context of China’s global dominance on all things decarbonisation and responses by our trading partners. Read more