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Hey Reader, in today's edition:
- Liberals axe net zero
- California isn't dreamin' about gas
- Energy wars go local, with misinformation
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The day the 'climate deniers' won
The Liberal Party pledged to axe Australia’s 2030 and 2050 climate targets, while keeping the country legally obligated to limit global warming by remaining a signatory to the Paris Agreement.
If elected in 2028, the party would repeal both the 43% by 2030 and net zero by 2050 target from the Climate Change Act, Liberal Leader Sussan Ley told reporters in Canberra.
“We will have an energy and emissions policy driven by two key objectives: affordable, reliable power and responsible emissions reductions. And our energy and emissions policies will use Australian resources for Australian families so you pay less for your power,” she said.
Shadow Energy Minister Dan Tehan and Senators Anne Ruston and John O’Donnell were tasked with landing an agreed Coalition policy position with the Nationals, who had already abandoned net zero and vowed to take nuclear energy to the next election.
“When it comes to energy abundance, we will use all our resources, and when it comes to reducing emissions, we will also use all available resources that we have to make sure that we’re doing our fair share,” Tehan said, flanking his leader who has copped months of division during the latest phase of Australia’s climate wars.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the day after Australia passed the milestone of installing 120,000 cheaper home batteries, the Liberals were abandoning practical action on climate change and energy bills.
“Today the climate deniers in the Liberal Party won,” Bowen said.
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Expert view
“The Australian business community is making long-term decisions now about decarbonisation and participation in carbon markets. What is needed most and what business leaders have been repeatedly called for is policy certainty to scale investment and support long-term economic resilience.
I’m disappointed by the decision to send this signal to Australians and the international community that Australia’s support for net zero is no longer bipartisan.
Attending COP30 in Brazil where governments are reaffirming their commitments to achieve climate targets and NDCs, it is a message to the world that Australia is not united to do their part to combat climate change, and that a future coalition government is going to walk away from its previous commitments.”
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Sasha Courville
Carbon Market Institute CEO
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Voters get climate change
Political candidates and parties advocating for stronger action on climate change were overwhelmingly re-elected, while those who were recalcitrant on the energy transition were smashed, “proud Liberal” Matt Kean tells The Energy in our new podcast.
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Expert view
“At the ballot box, and I say that as a proud Liberal, the public believes in the science of climate change, like they believe in the science of gravity … 84% of the world's GDP has currently committed to net zero. The markets that have underwritten Australia's prosperity for generations, they're changing the types of things that they're looking for from Australia. So if you are a coal exporter and you are looking at where those jurisdictions you've been selling coal to are going, you need to be thinking about how do you diversify your business. And we as a nation need to be thinking about how we diversify our economy.”
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Matt Kean
Chair, Climate Change Authority
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What California is doing, not dreamin’, about gas
Australia’s gas networks face a challenge: electrification of homes is surging, meaning fewer customers are left to share fixed costs of maintaining ageing pipelines. If clear pathways for retirement are not set, customers risk subsidising stranded assets, writes Climateworks’ Glen Currie.
Monash University’s Climateworks Centre estimates that by around 2033, remaining gas customers could face a doubling of their energy costs because of this burden.
This year, Currie travelled to California to investigate and compare their energy transition policies, regulatory design, and electrification challenges to ours, and found their approach offers two actionable ideas:
- pilot neighbourhood-scale transitions that bundle grid readiness, trades training and consumer switching
- require transparent mapping of pipeline replacement needs and network retirements so remaining customers aren’t trapped paying for what’s on its way out.
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Energy wars go local
From people taking more personal responsibility for what they say to setting up information hubs or criminalising fossil fuel disinformation, there’s no shortage of actionable insights on offer for senators inquiring into how to combat mis- and disinformation on energy.
This week’s public hearings heard personal stories of harm stemming from people being misled on the facts of renewable energy, including threats to personal safety and projects once considered worthy later kyboshed.
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Expert view
“There's misinformation and disinformation, but there's also sometimes no information.
Actually coming up with a map of renewable energy projects, that's a reliable map, is something that the community wants. And the government did not step up and do that, and Rainforest Reserves came out and did it first. But it was answered in a way that was actually quite deceptive in a number of different areas.
There's a real price in not acting on these things as quickly as they need to be. Recommendation six (from the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner) was for the minister to initiate a process for the development and execution of a communications program that provides local communities with a clear narrative about the pragmatic reasons for the energy transition. Again, that hasn't really been attacked by the government.
We put up the program for local energy hubs over 12 months ago.”
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Andrew Bray
National Director, RE-Alliance
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 Projects
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Queensland declared Graphinex’s Esmeralda Graphite Project as a prescribed project to streamline approvals for faster project delivery. The proposed open-pit graphite mine and processing facility located about 70km south of Croydon, and a graphite refinery in Townsville to produce battery-grade anode materials, has a US Export-Import Bank’s Letter of Interest for $1.3 billion — the largest single financial commitment under the US-Australia Critical Minerals Framework. Managing Director Art Malone and CFO Thomas Bell visited Japan this week to meet with potential offtakers and strategic partners.
North Harbour Clean Energy is proposing a 400MW/800MWh battery, providing up to two hours of storage, in the Upper Hunter, NSW. The project is awaiting NSW Government approval and is now also open for comment in the federal queue. (Renew Economy)
Policy
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With 48% of overseas-born engineers — approximately 133,000 people — not working directly in engineering roles, Engineers Australia CEO Romilly Madew urged industry and governments to reduce bias, recognise qualifications, and build networks to enable migrant engineers to fill workforce shortages and boost productivity across the sector. Speaking at an AFR infrastructure summit, she called on the Australian Government to set a target for an additional 60,000 engineering graduates by 2035.
The Bloomberg Philanthropies Local Leaders Climate Awards recently honored 12 cities and regions that have effectively addressed climate change in impactful policy. The two winners of the Energy Transition and Smarter Buildings award were Boston, for its Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) and Equitable Emissions Investment Fund, and Juiz de Fora’s Municipal Climate Neutrality Policy, which combined legislative, technical, and innovative measures to reduce emissions and boost energy efficiency through LED lighting, photovoltaic systems, and waste recovery programs.
Regulation
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Alinta Energy paid $1,089,000 in penalties following a record 15 infringement notices issued by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) after overcharging welfare recipients required to pay through the Centrepay platform and taking too long to refund them. Electricity and gas users in NSW, Queensland and South Australia between April 2019 and September 2024 were affected, with total overcharged amounts for each customer ranging from around $100 to nearly $9,750.
TasNetworks published its Annual Planning Report (APR), a combined transmission and distribution document which underpins the Tasmanian Renewable Energy Action Plan, including support of the Marinus Link interconnector and North West Transmission Developments, the Tasmanian Renewable Energy Target and setting up a renewable hydrogen industry in the state.
Heritage-listed properties in NSW can now install solar panels, batteries, insulation and draught proofing without seeking formal approval after an update to Heritage Act exemptions, subject to some conditions around protecting the heritage values of the property. For example, solar panels are exempt if the system is under 10kW and the panels are not facing the street.
Climate
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Global fossil fuel emissions are projected to rise to a new all-time high this year, and unless these efforts are scaled up substantially, current global temperature trends are projected to significantly exceed the Paris Agreement target that aims to keep warming well below 2 degrees, head of CSIRO’s Global Carbon Project Pep Canadell and other experts warn in the latest Global Carbon Budget released at COP30. (The Conversation)
Australia is holding firm on COP31. “President Erdoğan has written to me in the last 24 hours. He is maintaining his position in response to Australia maintaining our position,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Sydney. “There has never been a Conference of the Parties held in the Pacific. Our neighbours, as well as Australia, think it is time that it was held in this region … where Pacific countries like Tuvalu and Kiribati are literally under threat — their very existence. We have put forward our bid, we'll continue to argue our case for that bid.”
People
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Arup appointed two new senior leaders, Brisbane-based David Carberry and Sydney-based Jon Williamson, in new roles as Strategic Market Lead – Renewable Energy and Environment, to support projects through environmental approvals.
AER announced the appointment of Matt Garbutt as CEO, effective immediately. He has been Acting CEO since August, after joining the regulator from Victoria’s energy department in February 2024 to head up compliance, enforcement and surveillance.
Paul Richards starts at Science & Technology Australia next week as the new Director of Media and Communications.
Research
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According to Google Trends, interest in solar energy is up 17% as Australians look to invest to keep emissions down and savings up. An analysis by iSelect of solar panel prices, government rebates, local solar exposure data from the Bureau of Meteorology, average retail electricity and feed-in tariff rates shows where households are getting the greatest returns across the country, with some saving upwards of $3,000 a year. For those using a large amount of electricity per day (10kW), Adelaide takes the lead, with solar paying for itself in as little as 2 years and 9 months and Perth was close behind at 3 years.
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What's On
November 18
National Press Club
FutureCoal (formerly known as the World Coal Association) CEO Michelle Manook will address the National Press Club on “the myths and future of coal” at this Canberra event.
November 20
2026 ACCU Review
Climate Change Authority Deputy CEO Eliza Murray, General Manager Mia Swainson, and Manager Gavin Mongan will speak at a webinar on the authority’s upcoming review of the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme.
November 25
The NEM Review and Firming up the Transition
NEM Review Chair Tim Nelson, CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth, Transgrid CFO Nadine Lennie, and AEMO Executive GM Violette Mouchaileh will speak at this CEDA event in Sydney.
November 26
National Press Club
Deputy Opposition Leader and former energy spokesman Ted O’Brien will address the National Press Club at this event in Canberra.
November 26
Efficient Electric Homes: Market Acceleration Summit
Architect Adrian Joyce, Secretary General of EuroACE - Energy Efficient Buildings, and the Director of the Renovate Europe Campaign, Clare McLaughlin, Head of Division, Energy Performance, at the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Grace Tam, Head of Consumer Finance at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and Energy Efficiency CEO Luke Menzel will speak at this Sydney event.
December 9, Sydney and December 11, Melbourne
Energy Tetris
The Energy’s first live event will feature Quinbrook CEO Brian Restall, Energy Security Corporation CEO Paul Peters, Southerly Ten Chief Development Officer Erin Coldham, CS Energy Head of Policy & Regulation Alison Demaria, Atmos Renewables GM of Development Allison Hawke, ASL GM System Planning & Financial Markets, Melanie Koerner, UNSW Senior Research Associate Dylan McConnell and Energy Edge MD Josh Stabler, with more speakers to be confirmed soon.
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