Our work

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

CEF and our colleagues Smart Energy Council, Rewiring Australia, Climate Energy Finance, Climate Capital Forum, Diplomats for Climate Dr John Hewson AM and former President, Australian Conservation Foundation, Mara Bun release an open letter today countering mis/disinformation and demonstrating why nuclear is not viable as an option for Australia in the time needed to tackle climate and energy challenges, as the LNP attempts to delay and distract from the renewables revolution. 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

CEF consulted with the NSW Treasury, the NSW Office of Energy and Climate Change and the Sustainable Finance Unit of the Commonwealth Treasury to provide input into their decision on whether a nationally consistent approach to transition planning is needed, what guidance would assist businesses and how efforts can best be coordinated. Read more

In this submission, we argue that the currently patently redundant and inadequate methodology for assessing methane emissions from coal mines be modernised to incorporate the latest science and new methods, including real time public disclosure of monitoring, reporting and verification. Read more

CEF’s comprehensive summation of the critical minerals opportunity for Australia including a response to the federal consultation’s Terms of Reference and key policy recommendations. Read more

The foundational premise of CEF is that financial markets are phenomenally powerful, but they need an explicit, high, permanent price on carbon to drive the rapid decarbonisation pathway required to ensure alignment with 1.5°C, which was made politically toxic by the previous government. In our view, the SGM reforms by the Albanese government could be strengthened, but create a credible framework to re-establish a price on carbon emissions in Australia. Read more

CEF’s submission to the NSW government on the proposed Winterbourne Wind Farm in the New England region. The project is expected to generate approximately 2,100,000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year of clean, renewable energy — enough to power more than 375,000 average NSW homes for a year. Read more

A response to additional material relating to to submission on Whitehaven Coal’s Narrabri Underground Mine Stage 3 Extension Project Read more

CEF’s submission on Whitehaven Coal’s application for its Narrabri Underground Mine Stage 2 Project Read more