Our work

The Federal Budget is a mixed bag for climate and energy with a serious case of underreach on fixing the failed PRRT gas tax, but some good policy and funding progress on a National Net Zero Authority, energy bill relief and home and business electrification, and measures to respond to the global race to renewables, such as $2bn for a green Hydrogen Headstart program – all in the context of a massive surprise $4.2bn surplus. However, we need to see more fiscal ambition to respond to game-changing international policy and funding reforms such as the US Inflation Reduction Act that are turbocharging global energy transition. 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

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

Our wrap of the top ten energy events in 2022, including the end of federal climate and energy policy chaos under the LNP, and our wishlist for an even better 2023! Read more

National cabinet agreed on welcome measures today to curb the fossil fuel bill shock impacting Australians, including coal and gas wholesale price caps, $1.5bn in energy rebates and an energy security plan comprising the newly agreed capacity investment mechanism and the $20bn Rewiring the Nation strategy. Still to do: tax the fossil multinationals making obscene war profits from Australia’s sovereign public assets as they laugh all way to the bank. Read more

We wrap the news of the week including the energy price relief plan, the energy ministers’s agreement on a capacity investment mechanism that will trigger investment into firmed renewables, and we take a look at the tsunami of green capital inflow to the US off the back of its Inflation Reduction Act (aka Climate Bill). Read more

We have done the math: multinational fossil fuel corporations will book a collective $120-140 billion gross profit in calendar year 2022. These war profiteers are inflicting untold pain on Australian households and business as energy bill shock exacerbates inflationary pressures. It’s past time for governments to step in on behalf of taxpayers and say “show me the money”. Read more

We launch a new series analysing the big 5 banks’ climate finance and decarbonisation progress, plus, the latest in our series on critical minerals value-adding opportunities in Australia, and calls for a windfall tax on war profiteering fossil fuel multinationals grow. Read more

The budget is pragmatic and aligned with the government’s positive energy transition commitments. However, the absence of any meaningful fossil fuel tax reform is a major omission. Read more

Elysse Morgan interviews Tim Buckley on CEF’s Windfall Profits report and the case for fossil fuel tax reform, which CEF analysis shows would net $322bn over 10 years. Read more

Tim Buckley says 22 million Australians on the east coast are wearing the price-shock impacts of fossil fuel producers’ war profiteering and the federal failure to reserve our sovereign gas for Australian consumers. Read more

CEF analysis finds that introducing an equitable multinational corporate tax and progressive royalty regime on Australia’s fossil fuels could contribute $322bn over 10 years. Read more