Our work

CEF’s new report reveals taxpayers would be on the hook for $150m per year in subsidies to Origin Energy to keep ageing coal clunker Eraring operating beyond its planned closure date in August 2025, and confirms there is enough renewable capacity in the pipeline to offset the closure. Read more

As the LNP ramps up its campaign for nuclear energy in Australia, we write that the nuclear furphy deters renewable energy investor confidence & increases sovereign risk as it betrays the Australian people Read more

Here we go again – the latest salvo from the climate laggards of the National Party designed to disrupt and delay Australia’s accelerating clean energy revolution. This time, it is couched in the tactically crafty but deeply cynical and flawed view that distributed renewables – minus utility-scale – are the solution to electricity grid decarbonisation. Read more

An analysis of Queensland’s current energy grid and its transition from FY24 to FY36, modelling the impacts of large-scale and distributed energy generation and storage to meet Queensland’s renewable energy and emissions reduction targets. Read more

Yesterday afternoon storms damaged power lines across Victoria taking all four generators at AGL’s massive end-of-life 2,210 megawatt (MW) coal-fired Loy Yang A power station offline as part of a cascading series of events, and with it 30% of the state’s power supply. This is a massive wake up call on the unreliability of ailing coal clunkers and the need to transition to firmed renewables. Read more

Guest contributor Owen Evans breaks down a C&I solar project and the cost saving benefits. Read more

A full overview of our work and impacts across our program areas for the 6 months July-Dec 2023 Read more

The world is in a technology, trade and finance race as the energy transition takes hold and we grapple with the growing impacts of climate change and climate risk. Australia has one of the biggest investment, employment, and net export opportunities this century, but only if we proactively build a strategic national response proportional to the investment opportunity. In our submission with Climate Capital Forum, we call for a major public policy shift, at scale, to set the right market signals and strategically leverage the national balance sheet, and selectively provide public budget support to unlock and crowd-in private capital. Read more

The latest Climate Energy Finance update – read our comprehensive End of Year wrap, including the 2023 Report Card on the government’s policy progress for boosting Australia’s transition to becoming a renewable energy superpower. Read more

View Tim Buckley’s presentation on Renewable Energy-based Exports to Australian National University Energy Update seminar in November 2023: Overview of global energy transition, the gigantic lead of China, the impact of the US IRA and more. Read more

Leading clean energy and investor groups today applauded Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s expansion of the Capacity Investment Scheme to 32GW, a huge stepchange in ambition that will accelerate Australia’s clean energy transition and ensure energy affordability and reliability. See the joint statement CEF released with the Clean Energy Investor Group, representing renewable energy investors with ~11GW of installed capacity across ~70 power stations and a portfolio value of ~$24bn; the Smart Energy Council, the independent body for the Australian smart energy industry with more than 950 members, Nexa Advisory and Solar Citizens. Read more

What kind of game is AustralianSuper, the country’s biggest super fund, playing with Origin Energy? The pension behemoth, with $300bn in assets under management and over 3.26 million members, is shaping up to scuttle a bid by Canadian fund manager Brookfield, plus Singapore’s Temasek and GIC, to acquire Australia’s largest power company, gentailer Origin Energy, owner of near-death coal clunker Eraring, Australia’s biggest coal-power station slated for mothballing in 2025. Is it in the public interest for the acquisition to be blocked when doing so cruels the $20-30bn investment in 14GW of accelerated firmed renewable energy to which Brookfield has committed? Read more