Our work

A joint statement with the Clean Energy Investor Group, Smart Energy Council and Nexa Advisory responding to news that the NSW government’s electricity review will recommend delaying the 2025 closure of the Eraring coal power station, Australia’s largest. Read more

Tim Buckley of CEF and Blair Palese, founder of the Climate Capital Forum, review the key impacts of the game changing US Inflation Reduction Act, which is turbocharging the green transition, one year after its introduction, and set out the 5 key things Australia should to respond and leverage our huge opportunities renewables powered processing of world leading critical minerals and energy transition materials. Read more

Tim Buckley speaks at the Centre for Future Work’s National Manufacturing Summit on the global energy transition and implications for Australia Read more

June quarter wholesale electricity prices are down 59% year-on-year., a major relief after 18 months of unprecedented fossil fuel hyperinflation. There is a record 30GW of new renewable energy capacity now in the connection pipeline, but just 3GW was completed in financial year 2023. We need to see the rate of completions double to replace end-of-life coal power station capacity inevitably and predictably coming offline. Read more

While the drought and heatwaves are testing China’s climate resilience, China’s renewable scaling up remains strong during the first half of CY2023. Countering climate change requires efforts from all. We call for China to go even faster in accelerating its decarbonisation process, as well as call for concerted effort from the developed world economies. Read more

CEF’s new modelling shows that on-schedule closure of Australia’s largest coal power station, Eraring, in August 2025 is entirely doable with accelerated transition to rooftop solar and utility scale renewables plus storage – there are more than enough projects in the pipeline to replace capacity and the capital is ready and willing. Delay would cost the people of the state $200-400bn in compensation to Eraring owner Brookfield, money which should be spent on distributed solar and the RE buildout. NSW energy minister Penny Sharpe just needs to stand firm and deliver the enormous benefits of decarbonisation to NSW. Read more

China Energy Policy Analyst Xuyang Dong argues that, despite the declining hydropower caused by climate change-led drought and heatwaves in China, China’s ambition and determination on energy transition remains intact. China showed heavier reliance on coal in May, while continues renewable expansion at the same time. Read more

CEF sees unprecedented trade and investment opportunities, in the order of hundreds of billions of dollars, for Australia to “ship sunshine”, embodying decarbonisation in its exports by using its solar and wind energy to process its world-leading critical minerals reserves, and to power manufacturing of energy transition materials. Australia has a once in a century opportunity for investment in renewables, exports, technology and employment, including in and driven by solar. It should seize it. Read more

As CEF’s new report details, we are seeing massive global solar momentum on three related fronts: rapid ongoing solar price deflation, multifold increases in solar manufacturing capacity and successive record solar deployments. This is coupled with the surge in electric vehicles, battery supply chains and most recently, the massive new opportunities to ‘electrify everything’. In CEF’s view this creates the conditions for a series of global cascading energy, transport and industry tipping points that have the potential to dramatically accelerate the decline of the incumbent fossil fuel industry, and the decarbonisation of the world economy. The economics of solar power are now compelling, and will only get stronger this decade. Our new report tracks progress in China – which is leading by a huge margin – the US, the EU, India and Australia, and includes key recommendations for Australia to leverage its potential as a renewables superpower. Read more

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 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 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