Our work

The new analysis is the first to quantify and compare the capital allocations of the Big 4 banks to renewable energy and whole of economy decarbonisation. It reveals that only 7% of the Big 4 banks’ collective $385bn sustainable finance target (SFT) by 2030 is directed to financing renewable energy and hard to abate industries. The vast majority of their climate-related capital allocations – between 44% and 72% – channelled into the low hanging fruit of BAU ‘green buildings’ that meet minimum energy efficiency regulations. Read more

Australia’s superannuation industry is on track for massive growth, projected to reach a staggering $13.6 trillion over the next twenty-four years. This shows the monumental significance of what our superfunds invest in, placing them at the heart of the nation’s financial landscape. According to a new report by Mercer, by 2048, the value of superannuation assets is expected to be 176% of Australia’s GDP, demonstrating its immense significance to the country’s economic well-being and direction. Read more

Last week’s announcement by AusSuper, Australia’s biggest super fund with over $300bn in assets under management, that it will dramatically upscale its investments offshore, including A$15.5bn into large-scale, long-term energy transition opportunities in the UK, should be a wake-up call to Australian energy policymakers. Read more

While national standards and guidance are typically designed to cover minimum requirements, internationally-accepted climate integrity principles are a much higher standard and should be the goal. Read more

Climate Energy Finance applauds the Government’s move to establish common disclosure requirements for climate-related financial risks and opportunities for Australian companies. We applaud the draft legislation’s focus on materiality, substance and speed, rather than delay and perfection. We would welcome additional measures to ensure disclosures are underpinned by the principles of information completeness, cross-sector comparability and integrity. Read more

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

As the global economy transforms to mitigate the climate crisis, decarbonising the A$2.6Trn global iron and steel industry, and the inevitable transition away from coking coal, is on the horizon with global finance beginning to enable this. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of both iron ore and metallurgical coal (met coal). We provide 57% of the world’s iron ore (A$124bn FY23 revenue) and 52% of global metallurgical coal (A$61bn FY23 revenue) and are therefore massively trade exposed as the world belatedly moves to limit global warming to 1.5°C and low carbon steel making becomes a reality. Read more

Financed emissions analyst, Nishtha Aggarwal, addresses the ANZ Board and Executive at the company’s FY2023 AGM. Read more

Financed emissions analyst, Nishtha Aggarwal, addresses the Westpac Board and Executive at the company’s FY2023 AGM. Read more

Capital acceleration and systems change are driving the decarbonisation of Australia’s $10tn housing stock. With 80% mortgage market share, Australia’s big banks are the main entry point to stimulating private finance. Banks need to go beyond ~60% emissions reduction targets to accelerate electrification and energy efficiency. Read more

CEF assesses the 2019 A$400m Woolworths Green Bond qualified under CBI’s Low Carbon Buildings criteria and find that it is difficult to credit CBI’s certification of these uses of proceeds as “contributing to climate mitigation” at all. Green bonds are designed to be a source of private capital mobilisation to achieve the massive uptick in clean energy investments required this decade. Given the volume of investment required to fund global decarbonisation, it is imperative that investors can identify credible emissions reduction opportunities to support. In our view, incorrectly conflating the notion that both assets and activities “contribute to” climate change mitigation creates a market distortion where the issue of real emissions reduction is obfuscated. Read more

Australia’s transition to net zero will require a significant amount of private and public investment. It is important that financial markets are well placed to finance this transition and therefore support the Government’s emissions reductions target. To assist this financing, the Government has proposed an ambitious and comprehensive Sustainable Finance Strategy. The Strategy will help mobilise the private investment needed in coming decades, enable Australian firms to access the capital needed to finance their own transitions and take advantage of new opportunities that arise, and ensure that the financial opportunities and risks presented by climate change are identified and well managed. The Strategy also recognises that markets are increasingly focussed on sustainability issues that extend beyond climate change. Read more