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Coal will transfer additional into decline as an vitality producer in Australia, after a number of superannuation firms introduced that they may now not help investing in firms that derive 10% or extra of their earnings from thermal coal manufacturing. As a former authorities worker, my superannuation is invested with QSuper. Over a decade in the past, I raised the difficulty of investing in industries that exacerbated local weather change. Now, it appears like sufficient purchasers have registered concern they usually have taken motion. Nicely executed. Australian tremendous funds maintain A$3.7 trillion in belongings.
QSuper has positioned firms that obtain over 10% of their income from the mining of thermal coal on an funding blacklist. Look carefully on the record beneath and you will see that that coal is listed alongside tobacco producers, the makers of cluster munitions and land mines. Who would have thought that coal had such lethal associates?
Some superannuation funds are nonetheless backing fossil fuels believing that there’s nonetheless some cash to be made for his or her members. In response to MarketForces.org, “… investments by the top 30 super funds in clean energy companies have declined by half a billion dollars over that same period, totalling just A$7.7 billion as at 31 December 2023.” Whereas Australia’s high 30 superfunds have greater than A$39 billion invested within the world fossil gasoline firms with the biggest enlargement plans. This group has been dubbed the “Climate Wreckers Index.” The A$39 billion must be seen within the context of the just about A$4 trillion held by Australian superfunds.
Need to know in case your superfund is investing in Local weather Wreckers? Verify the Local weather Wreckers Index right here.
Brett Morgan, of Superannuation Funds Campaigner Market Forces, mentioned: “Investments in the world’s biggest climate wreckers are skyrocketing as Australia’s biggest super funds are failing to rein in dangerous coal, oil and gas growth. Tens of thousands of members are demanding immediate and decisive climate action from their super funds, by forcing coal, gas and oil companies to end their fossil fuel expansion plans and divesting where this fails.”
Clearly, extra tremendous firms have to comply with the instance set by QSuper and heed the warnings of such assume tanks as Carbon Tracker. Carbon Tracker has been warning for years about stranded belongings within the fossil gasoline trade and the risk to retirees’ tremendous. They are going to be happy by QSuper’s determination.
The Australian authorities’s latest federal finances provides extra gasoline to the hearth: no new funding for fossil fuels was introduced – not even for gasoline. Local weather Council CEO Amanda McKenzie mentioned: “Gas and coal are not part of the budget’s vision for a Future Made in Australia, underlining that our next era of prosperity can be built on cleaner foundations. This is an essential signal across our entire economy.”
The Local weather Council continues: “By earmarking billions of investments in coming years to grow clean industries like critical minerals, renewable hydrogen and clean energy manufacturing, the Federal Government is charting a course to power past the end of fossil fuels.” The Local weather Council requires bipartisan help. Nonetheless, that’s extremely unlikely, because the Conservation Federal Opposition is doubling down on its name for modular nuclear reactors and operating a scare marketing campaign about renewables inflicting blackouts. As if the transition wasn’t onerous sufficient, we now have to combat Luddites driving dinosaurs! On a aspect observe — none of their followers desire a nuke of their yard!
The final ten years have been dominated by a debate about whether or not there was such a factor as local weather change. Now that the Conservatives have accepted that local weather change is a matter, the subsequent 10 years is perhaps taken up with a debate about the right way to repair it — nuclear or renewables! One solely hopes sense will prevail and votes will go to those that can do the maths. Australia’s premier scientific analysis physique, the CSIRO, has come down decisively on the aspect of renewables as cheaper than nuclear, and the higher possibility for energy technology.
The usage of gasoline peakers through the night hours when photo voltaic is low and persons are demanding larger energy hundreds from the grid continues to place upward stress on energy costs and add to the “cost of living crisis.” There are multitudinous massive battery and wind powered tasks within the pipeline. Till they’re constructed, related, and commissioned, Australia stays reliant on fossil gasoline gasoline. In the meantime, the greenwashing continues with promoting on free-to-air TV making an attempt to promote methane gasoline as a renewable!
A examine of the Nationwide Power Market through the night peak (5–7 pm) makes it apparent that gasoline is crucial as Australia transitions to wash vitality from wind and photo voltaic, backed by massive batteries and digital energy vegetation. Please observe that it is a dwell website and values will range through the course of 24 hours. The screenshots beneath had been taken in Australia’s winter, because the climate was cooling and folks had been arriving residence from work and cooking dinner. At 6:50 pm about 6 GW of energy was coming from gasoline. There have been solely about 300 MW of battery storage accessible.
Solely a bit of over 2 GW of electrical energy is being produced by gasoline in the course of day.
In an indication of a maturation, mainstream financiers are coming into Australia’s massive battery market. In response to Allens Insights, “market financiers, are developing a greater understanding of technology risks and split construction contracting, which are typical features of battery energy storage systems (BESS) projects.” They’re seeing extra “bankability” resulting in confidence that massive batteries will be commercially viable in Australia even with out authorities help. The federal government in flip is simplifying the principles for bidirectional flows which make for simpler connections and the power to offer a larger vary of companies.
“Momentum for new investment in battery projects is rapidly building. Revenue opportunities continue to grow and diversify as owners and off takers look at novel ways of sharing risk and reward, and developers grapple with integrating revenue underwriting schemes into their offtake offerings. Critical mineral prices have fallen as growth in mineral production has outstripped growth in battery production. The oversupply of critical minerals is expected to continue at least in the short-term, which should keep prices competitive for battery supply through 2024.”
Thermal coal could also be listening to its dying knell for home electrical energy manufacturing in Australia, however it should nonetheless be a while earlier than gasoline will be squeezed out of the market by renewables firmed by grid-scale batteries.
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