Capital
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The Minderoo Foundation allocated US$10 million to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) launched at COP30 by Brazil ’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to make forests worth more standing than felled. “Offsets have too often been used as a licence to pollute. They categorically do not work the vast majority of times they have been independently measured. This is the opposite. The TFFF makes forest protection a strong economic choice in favour of our environment – rewarding countries that actually keep their forests intact,” Mindaroo founder Andrew Forrest said.
 Projects
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Western Australia opened an Expression of Interest for local green steel to be used on major state government projects with feedstock for a future recycling industry including scrap from decommissioned mining and offshore oil and gas plants. As part of soon-to-be-introduced local sourcing requirements, the government will take an "if not, why not" approach to procurement that will explicitly give preference to WA-made green steel. Directions on local content procurement will be issued to Western Power, Synergy, and Horizon Power under the Government Trading Enterprises Act 2023.
Meanwhile the WA government’s claim that gas production is helping Asia’s clean energy transition was undermined in a leaked Deloitte report, which it commissioned. “The government for a long time now has been trying to make the ludicrous argument that if you extract and export more gas, which is a fossil fuel, it will be good for the climate and reduce emissions,” Australia Institute co-CEO Richard Denniss said. “That’s not true, because climate change is caused by fossil fuels and gas is one of the main fossil fuels.
Environment Minister Murray Watt lauded the Dunmore Solar Farm as an example for industry to follow for fast approvals. Samsung C&T Renewable Energy Australia’s 300MW solar farm and 150MW battery energy storage system (BESS), near existing transmission lines, was approved at the federal level in just 19 days and will be located on previously cleared land, Watt said.
Policy
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Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg told ABC’s Insiders he will resign from the frontbench if his party abandons Australia's commitment to the Paris Agreement, as Opposition Leader Sussan Ley mulls dumping the Coalition's net-zero policy. "I think at the end of the day, this is the international standard on decarbonisation. So Australia cannot sit out of its own international standard,” he said. "It's ridiculous." The Liberals will meet in Canberra mid-week to settle an official position on net zero and energy policy, ahead of a joint Coalition party room meeting next Sunday. Opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan has flagged subsidies to keep current coal-fired power plants operating for longer and retaining the nuclear push. (SBS) (The Age) (Guardian) (AFR)
Climate Change Authority Chair Matt Kean told a recent Climate Resilience Emergency Forum “we need to press on to net zero emissions as soon as we can ... and to prod other nations to do so”. Hosting COP31 next year would be the ideal platform to do that prodding, and focus Australians on climate matters throughout an entire year in the run-up to the event. “Most Aussies accept the climate science as they accept the science that enables the great majority of planes take off and land safely, or that diagnoses an illness and prescribes appropriate medicine to deal with it,” he said.
It’s also bad economics, according to ANU Professor Frank Jotzo. Walking away from net zero would undermine investment confidence, raise power prices, drive up taxes, undermine green export potential, harm Australia’s international reputation and run against our intrinsic interest in strong global climate policy as a nation highly exposed to climate damage, he warns. (The Conversation)
Regulation
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The Australian Energy Regulator opened consultation on the extent of revenue recovery for TasNetworks’ North West Transmission Development (NWTD) project, with the overhead transmission lines to connect to Marinus Link as part of Project Marinus.
Treasury might have breached the Constitution when it extended the previous one-year $300 rebate for every household's electricity bills, because it failed to gain written authorisation from Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers. (AFR)
Technology
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Research from Climate Analytics, commissioned by Fortescue (ASX: FMG), found “real zero” is technically feasible for key sectors. As the cost of renewables, batteries and other green technologies continues to fall, the case studies find it represents a far greater economic opportunity than continuing to burn fossil fuels:
- Heavy trucking (Europe): Battery-electric long-haul trucks are projected to reach cost parity with diesel equivalents by 2026, described as a “tipping point” for zero-emission transport
- Fertiliser (India): Green ammonia for fertiliser production will carry only a marginal cost premium over conventional fossil fuel-derived ammonia in parts of India by 2026, and by 2030 will undercut grey ammonia in renewables-rich regions.
- Steel (Japan): Green hydrogen-based steelmaking could be cheaper than fossil routes by the early 2030s – and even sooner with modest carbon pricing – while scrap-based electric arc furnace production is already cost-competitive.
Climate
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Proud Yilka/Wongutha/Nyoongar woman Sam Murray has seen the impact of climate change on desert Country. She's taking her fight to COP30, her second COP conference but the first as the CEO of the Indigenous Desert Alliance, which is a civil society organisation that supports Indigenous desert rangers care for Country across the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and parts of Queensland. (NITV)
Research
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The energy transition is moving at half the pace needed to meet Paris-aligned targets, according to a stocktake by McKinsey Global Institute. Among the domains researched, raw materials is the only one where progress is outstripping cruising speed. Supply of critical minerals has been growing, especially in Africa, China, and Indonesia. Higher investment and an acceleration in the time it takes to bring projects online have put critical minerals on a trajectory that can sustain rapid growth in solar, batteries, and EVs, the institute found.
Random
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“I super appreciate it.” How Elon Musk lined up a trillion-dollar payday. (ABC)
