Catch up
Capital
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The retail sector is primed for an energy switch after the nation’s green bank announced $100 million for Wesfarmers’ (ASX: WES) clean energy plans at selected Bunnings and Officeworks sites and its chemicals and fertiliser division WesCEF. From EV chargers in car parks to solar-powered air con in stores, Australians would see real-world benefits, according to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. (AAP)
“In addition to using its iconic retail sites to produce its own renewable energy, Wesfarmers is also investing in critically required battery storage and energy efficiency technologies so it can better manage the way it uses that energy.” - CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth
Retail is one of Australia’s big-emitting sectors, accounting for half of energy use in the commercial property sector and 5% of national greenhouse gas emissions. Businesses failing to adapt to climate risks risk losing up to 7% of annual earnings by 2035, according to the World Economic Forum.
Independent Senators David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe and the Greens called for an urgent investigation into the lobbying activities of consultancy firm Good Advice and its client gas fracker Empire Energy (ASX: EEG). (The Guardian)
 Projects
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The Port of Hastings submitted a fresh EPBC referral for the Victorian Renewable Energy Terminal, which is a hub designed to serve the state’s new offshore wind industry. “Our team has undertaken preliminary environmental assessments, technical studies and design work to help inform this referral, with significant reductions to our dredging (70%) and reclamation (35%) compared to our previous referral submitted in 2023,” the port corporation said.
Grants of up to $1 million each announced for 14 community solar and battery projects in Bega, Bermagui, Candelo, Eden, Wallaga Lake, Narooma, Pambula and Wolumla mean the projects can start immediately. Using local NSW businesses for installation and maintenance, the projects will help reduce energy bills and operational costs and are intended to provide backup power during emergencies, including bushfires.
Policy
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Western Australia isn’t ruling out a new gas-fired generator to back up its grid, as the state government moves to shut down coal-fired generation within five years. (The West)
“Gas is going to be needed for security and reliability in the system going forward up to 2030 and beyond. We are not ruling anything in or out at this point. We are also monitoring emerging technologies … But our focus is on increasing the amount of renewables in the system and delivering the transmission that is required to connect those renewables. Security and reliability and affordability are the key principles that we need to achieve, and that mix is renewable energy with gas a firming fuel.” - WA Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson
The federal government will progressively expand the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) to existing homes. Jake Harvey, founder of 28Watt, says when a standardised tool is available to assess the energy efficiency, it will become a catalyst for more banks to offer discounted mortgages linked to greener homes. (SBS)
Two days of hearings begin on Monday at the NSW inquiry into what’s needed to support the uptake of EVs, improve access to charging, and achieve the state’s target of 52% of new car sales to be electric by 2030-31. Expert evidence will include Dani Alexander, CEO of the UNSW Energy Institute and advisory board member at The Energy, and Mark Twidell, Industry Professor of Practice at UNSW and former Director of Energy Programs at Tesla.
The AEMC, like many other policymakers and advocates, attributes expected cost and carbon emission savings to electrification, but most of this should be attributed to energy efficiency writes sustainable energy expert Alan Pears in Renew Economy.
Regulation
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RepuTex’s ACCU price benchmark was recognised by the federal government as the Default Prescribed Unit Price (DPUP), setting the standard price for prescribed carbon units in the Safeguard Mechanism market. As an auditable price reference, the benchmark can be formally adopted as a Commodity Reference Price (CRP) by regulators, auditors, or market participants to set fair market value in regulatory disclosures, financial contracts, mark-to-market position valuations, and climate-related financial reporting.
Technology
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A team of researchers led by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology developed a new composite material they say enhances the performance of solar cells. It extended the longevity of a solar cell by over 200%, boosted power output by nearly 13%, and reduced the cost of electricity generation from solar by 18%, according to results published in Materials Science and Engineering.
Climate
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The European Commission declared it was killing a corporate greenwashing rule as right-wing pressure chips away at the EU’s climate agenda. The Green Claims Directive, nearing completion, was proposed in 2024 as a way to prevent businesses from engaging in marketing claiming they were environmentally friendly, without proof. (Politico) (Forbes)
The US Environmental Protection Agency and its administrator, Lee Zeldin, face a class-action lawsuit after canceling US$3 billion in grant funding for climate and environmental programs in disadvantaged communities.
People
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Sun Cable expert Tan Kueh and Jeremy Kwong-Law, who drove the decarb overhaul of AGL Energy (ASX: AGL), are leaving Grok Ventures. Casey Taylor has been appointed CEO of Mike Cannon-Brookes’ private office and will oversee climate investment at Grok and climate philanthropy alongside ongoing Boundless Earth CEO Eytan Lenko.
Research
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UQ Emeritus Professor Graeme Turner’s book Broken Universities, Politics and the Public Good, due out on July 1, urges policymakers to set aside the “fiction” that universities are just another entrepreneurial industry that can generate its own funding and re-embrace the idea that higher learning is a fundamental public good. (Inside Story) (AFR)
“Students are dropping out, academics are burning out, and governments have been tuning out for decades.” - UQ Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies Professor Graeme Turner
A lack of long-term vision and political short-termism were viewed as the biggest emerging threats to European energy security in a new Swedish study that asked experts to consider threats across a range of political and economic areas. Setting and achieving ambitious climate targets was also seen as crucial for long-term energy security, according to the study published in Energy Policy.
Research with the New Economics Foundation shows how the EU’s industrial policy must change to face the climate, conflict and energy security “polycrisis” as current settings risk deepening the problems they are meant to solve. (The Conversation)
Random
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The Braddon ballot is the biggest the Tasmanian electorate has ever seen - at nine columns, election analyst Ben Raue reports. (The Tally Room)
