9 December 2022

CLIMATE POLITICS

Coal and gas cut out of capacity mechanism (Australian Financial Review): Federal and state energy ministers have specifically ruled out coal and gas from being a part of the capacity mechanism that will be introduced next year to ensure there is enough supply in the grid. At an energy ministers’ meeting in Brisbane on Thursday, Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen hailed the agreement as a breakthrough after the energy ministers controversially took the delivery of the capacity mechanism off the Energy Security Board in August.

Labor election buoys energy investment sentiment, survey finds (Australian Financial Review): The number of investors deferring investment in Australia due to climate policy uncertainty has fallen sharply over the last 12 months, a survey has found, a boost to the Labor government’s hopes of significantly ramping up renewable energy generation. The Investor Group on Climate Change’s annual survey of Australia’s largest investors found that 56 per cent of capital was concerned about climate policy frameworks, down from the 70 per cent recorded a year earlier. The findings come after Labor’s election victory in May and the subsequent passage of legislation enshrining its targets for net zero emissions by 2050 and a 43 per cent reduction over 2005 levels by 2030.

Labor to spend $20m to accelerate electric truck use (Australian Financial Review): The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has awarded @Team Global Express, formerly Toll Global Express a grant of $20.1 million to make metropolitan deliveries using electric trucks. The funds mark the latest move by the federal agency to boost electric vehicle use, a centrepiece of federal Labor government policy agenda.

NSW ‘close’ to deal for federal power bill subsidies (Australian Financial Review): NSW has dropped its demand that it be compensated for about $100 million in royalties, which would be lost by a cap on black coal, and instead has convinced the Commonwealth to temporarily subsidise energy bills for households and businesses. On the eve of Friday’s national cabinet meeting, NSW Liberal Treasurer Matt Kean, who engineered the deal that will aid his government in the run-up to the March 25 state election, said, “we are close to landing a deal”.

CARBON MARKETS

SMC bill hints at potential future changes to Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism, analysis says (Carbon Pulse): New analysis has highlighted potential future changes that could be made to Australia's Safeguard Mechanism after changes in the policy's framework in the government's below-baseline crediting legislation.

Australia’s largest cement producer explores carbon capture (Australian Financial Review): Processing engineering firm KC8 Capture Technologies will construct and install a demonstration plant to capture carbon dioxide at one of Australia’s largest cement producers, Cement Australia’s facility in Gladstone. The deal marks Cement Australia’s move into carbon capture and storage amid growing pressure on heavy industry to reduce emissions, including in hard-to-abate sectors.

David Pocock criticises official’s ‘inappropriate’ conduct after she confronted scientific group over carbon credit evidence (The Guardian): The independent senator David Pocock has criticised a senior government official’s conduct as “troubling and inappropriate” after parliament heard she was involved in a “robust” conversation with a scientific group about its evidence to an independent inquiry into Australia’s carbon credit scheme. Shayleen Thompson, the executive general manager of government agency the Clean Energy Regulator, told Senate estimates she contacted the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists to raise what she considered “factual issues” with its submission to the Chubb review into the carbon credit system.The regulator’s governance of the scheme is part of the focus of the review.

GREEN PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES

New policy and guidance for renewable hydrogen projects (Media Statement – The Hon Alannah MacTiernan MLC): The Western Australian Government is providing certainty and clarity to large-scale hydrogen proponents looking to access or use Crown land, with the release of a new policy and guidance. Hydrogen Industry Minister Alannah MacTiernan today shared the policy and guidance with industry stakeholders at the Australian Hydrogen Conference (West) 2022. As WA's renewable hydrogen industry continues to grow, the WA Government anticipates that access to Crown land will only increase. Proponents of large-scale hydrogen projects need to consider a number of factors when developing a proposal, including the existing land tenure over the site being proposed, the underlying interest holders of the land, including native title rights and interests, the various stakeholders with an interest in the site, and the legislative framework for gaining short and long-term access to the site.

New approach to fast-track green energy approvals (Media Statement – The Hon Mark McGowan MLA): The McGowan Government will slash approval timeframes for job-creating green energy projects, with a $22.5 million investment to overhaul the State approach to environmental approvals. Western Australia is on the cusp of becoming a global green energy superpower, with an unprecedented number of renewable energy and critical minerals proposals currently under environmental assessment and a significant number of new referrals in the pipeline. The new multi-pronged approach will help to drive investment in conventional wind, solar and wave power generators, hydrogen industries, lithium mining and critical minerals processing, and green energy product manufacturing.

WA Government takes aim at Renewable Hydrogen Target (Media Statement – The Hon Bill Johnston MLA): The WA Government today announced the next steps for the development of the State's Renewable Hydrogen Target at the 2022 Australian Hydrogen Conference. Speaking at the conference, Hydrogen Industry Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the WA Government had made a number of key decisions on the Renewable Hydrogen Target following stakeholder consultation that opened in October 2022. The Renewable Hydrogen Target will aim to drive local demand and assist emerging hydrogen production projects, which are essential to developing the State's hydrogen industry.

Neoen wins approval for 4GWh battery to be built near retiring coal plants (Renew Economy): A giant 4GWh battery proposed by French renewable energy developer Neoen for the coal town Collie in Western Australia has won development approval, allowing the French company to get set for breaking ground on the first stage of the project next year. The Shire of Collie and the Regional Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) have given development approval for the 1000MW/4000MWh battery, which is set to be sited near the last of the Collie coal fired power generators due to close in 2027.

Shire receives development application for Australia-first commercial scale biodiesel facility near Narrogin (The West Australian): Plans for a new biodiesel facility near Narrogin continue to develop, with the Shire of Narrogin receiving a $200 million development application for the establishment of a renewable diesel biorefinery. A development application was received from Future Energy Australia, which plans to establish a Renewable Diesel Biorefinery at the Narrogin Future Energy Park, 4km south of the town centre.

Fortescue opens WA’s first green hydrogen refuelling station for fleet of Toyota Mirais (Renew Economy): Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest’s @Fortescue Future Industries has this week opened Western Australia’s first green hydrogen refuelling station to power its fleet of 12 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell cars. The new refuelling station was opened in partnership with gas company Atco Australia – which has four Mirai’s of its own – and is located at Atco’s Clean Energy Innovation Hub in Perth. It will be used by Atco and Fortescue and will also be available for third parties, such as the WA Police who also have their own fleet of FCEVs.

Celebrations over WA’s first pumped hydro solution (Media Statement – The Hon Bill Johnston MLA): A collaborative project between WA-based engineering company Power Research and Development (PRD) and Western Power, the self-sufficient renewable solution will significantly improve power reliability for homes and businesses in Walpole. It will be used as a blueprint for other parts of the State, and possibly nationally and internationally. The 1.5-megawatt pumped hydro facility will use two farm dams to store 30MW hours of energy and works by pumping water uphill from one dam to another when renewables are abundant and energy is cheap.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Glencore scraps giant Valeria coal project in Queensland on net-zero goals (The West Australian): Glencore abandoned plans for a controversial coal mine in Australia that would have been one of the largest in the top exporter, citing global uncertainty and its plans to phase out emissions. The company won’t develop the $2 billion Valeria project in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, it said Thursday. The site would have produced about 20 million tonnes of coal a year, and been a major source of global carbon dioxide over its 37-year lifetime. The move comes as major miners, including Rio Tinto and BHP, pull away from carbon-emitting fossil fuels in favour of minerals necessary in the low-carbon energy transition, such as nickel, copper, lithium and cobalt.

Shock court gas ruling poses risk to wind farms (Australian Financial Review): The Albanese government could be forced to overhaul the laws governing offshore energy projects after a court ruling slowed the approval of new gas developments, and raised doubts about how quickly wind farms, considered vital to the energy transition, can be built off the Australian coast. The decision to uphold a landmark win in September by Tiwi Island senior lawman Dennis Tipakalippa against the regulatory approval given to Santos’ $5.3 billion Barossa gas project in the Timor Sea has crystallised fears inside the government that the benchmark for new projects is becoming too high.

Westpac defends customers and its bankers from greenwashing risk (Australian Financial Review): Westpac says persistent questioning from clients of its institutional bank on which activities qualify for a “green loan” has led it to jump ahead of work by the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute, with the bank releasing its own lending classifications for “green” and “transition” finance to help reduce risks around greenwashing. In a discussion paper to be released on Thursday, Westpac highlights the many challenges and complexities in developing standardised definitions, which the ASFI is attempting to do for all banks.

Only half of Australia’s biggest companies have net-zero emissions plans (Renew Economy): About half of Australia’s biggest listed companies have plans to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, our new analysis has found. We assessed the climate change commitments of 187 companies out of 200 listed on the Australian Stock Exchange – the ASX200. Together, these 187 companies produce 32% of Australia’s operational emissions – that is, emissions produced directly from a business’ operations or from the use of its energy products.

Climate bell tolls for banks as investors turn up the heat (WA Today): Over the next fortnight, three of the nation’s biggest banks will face a fresh round of shareholder pressure over the awkward balancing act lenders must perform in response to climate change. Each of the big four supports moving to a net-zero world by 2050, which inevitably requires slashing lending to fossil fuel giants. Yet at the same time, the lenders have also left the door open to financing new gas projects, which could emit carbon into the atmosphere for years to come.

OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST

How a lack of copper could slow the transition to renewable energy (ABC News): In November, the Global Carbon Project released its latest stocktake figures of the world's total greenhouse emissions. According to the report, the world will, at the current trajectory, exceed the carbon limit for a global warming of 1.5 degree Celsius within nine years. Some data suggests that, if the world was to warm by just 2 degrees, an additional 177 million people would face water scarcity and an extra 62 million people would experience severe droughts.

Solar and electric vehicle loans are soaring, says NAB, as business greens up (Renew Economy): Applications for loans to finance electric vehicles and rooftop solar systems are coming in thick and fast, according to big-four bank NAB, as Australian businesses race to cut costs and emissions. NAB says new data shows finance for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles is up 900 per cent since 2020 – albeit?from a very low base, considering Australia’s notoriously behind-the-pace EV market. Perhaps more tellingly, NAB says finance for solar assets has increased by 600% over the same period, as PV generation becomes a no-brainer for any business with the space to install panels.

Hydrogen to Perth homes a pointless distraction on the road to net-zero (WA Today): Hundreds of Cockburn residents will soon have to wait a tiny bit longer to boil water to cook their pasta thanks to hydrogen put in their gas supply as a corporate PR exercise. ATCO, the Canadian company that owns Perth’s gas network, will start blending up to two per cent of hydrogen made with renewable energy into the gas pipelines supplying 2700 homes and businesses in Glen Iris, Treeby and Calleya in the City of Cockburn.