First published by New Matilda. The world seems particularly chaotic this winter. The climate news is diabolical, with fears about melting of the Arctic permafrost and the ancient ice stores of the Himalayas. There is a Royal Commission into the brutal treatment of children in prison in the Northern Territory. And that is before we

Adam Giles, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, should know better than making solar and wind the scapegoat for energy price rises (‘Call for summit on energy crisis’, 18 July).  New energy management technologies will allow renewables to provide cheaper and better power than old ‘baseload’ technologies. As your editorial points out (‘SA energy madness’),

Reporter Michael Owen was a little too emotive when he described renewable energy as ‘untrustworthy’ (‘Warning of an energy crisis to hit nation’, 16 July). The accepted term is ‘variable’ and it has become clear that our energy system can readily handle high levels of variable generation. Variable generation will work better still in our

The folk who predicted the carbon price would give us $100 legs of lamb, that China’s demand for coal would keep rising, and that NSW would run out gas are at it again. Wind energy, we are now told, is ruining the economy. Run for the hills! (First published in the Australian Financial Review – Here)

Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to merge the environment and energy portfolios could lead to a breakthrough in the toxic climate politics that was unleashed when Tony Abbott rolled him in the December 2009 leadership coup. Or the new super-ministry and its new minister Josh Frydenberg could be set up for failure. It depends entirely on whether

The inevitable shift from coal to clean energy is becoming big news in regional electorates and across the country at this election. Local member and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has endorsed the White Rock Wind Farm in Glen Innes, saying, “if we are going to go down the path of renewables and I believe

The rapid rise of renewable energy technology has taken the world by surprise. Renewables have gotten cheaper faster than expected, while battery storage development is shaping up to radically change the way power our lives, from home, to work to the way we travel.    But this global phenomenon will play out locally, and in

Sunlight, it is said, is the best disinfectant. But despite the fact that markets can only work well when they are well informed, some in the Australian investment community remain convinced that disclosing their exposure to risky investments is a chore they would rather avoid. Take ANZ for example. In 2014 and 2015 motions were

Dan Cass and Christopher Wright (Sydney Business School) Published on RenewEconomy (17 March 2016)  Following the enthusiasm generated by the Paris climate agreement, the focus for climate action now shifts back to nation states, which is where the hard work begins. Most nations have failed to make much progress on deep emissions cuts. Carbon prices lack

First published by the Australian Financial Review – here Economic modelling is like a meth lab, it can make you rich or blow up in your face. And like cooking meth, economic modelling gets more dangerous when it is done fast by those new to the industry. But despite the dangers, and the fact he

Published by RenewEconomy and Sydney Environment Institute. The US government has announced a US$36 million program to develop technologies that turn solar PV and storage batteries into a new kind of decentralised, virtual power source which some are calling ‘the internet of energy’. This is just the kind of technological shift that excites our new

Originally published in the Australian Financial Review – here.  The differences between rugby league and rugby union, like the differences between the disciplines of economics and finance, can seem obscure to those who aren’t fans of either. Subtle though they may be, small differences can have big impacts on the end result. Indeed, those small

First published in The Australian Financial Review – here. If you think that world demand for coal is going to grow in the coming decades, then it makes sense to build the 50 new coal mines proposed for Australia. And if you think that the world will continue its shift away from coal, then it

As Sweden debates how best to get out of the coal mining business, Australia is debating how best to subsidise the world’s largest export coal mines. Just last week the Australian Federal Government approved the enormous Adani/Carmichael coal mine which, at 40 kilometres long and 10 kilometres wide, is bigger than Gothenburg. The Australian Government

Originally published in the Australian Financial Review – Here. Like politics, economics often throws up some unusual allies. Take, for example, the recent call for a global moratorium on new coal mines by Kiribati’s President Anote Tong. Were such a restriction on the supply of coal to go ahead the biggest winners would be, you

As opposition leader Tony Abbott told us that emissions trading was an expensive fraud. As Prime Minister he is proposing changes to his direct action policy based on the assumption that trading pollution permits is both cheap and reliable. As with so much of the modern policy debate the explanation for this remarkable turnaround has everything

Australia can’t have a grown-up debate about reform until we stop having juvenile debate about economic modelling. A government that thinks its most persuasive argument begins with “but economic modelling shows” should have as much chance of shifting the economic debate as Bronwyn Bishop had of shifting Australians’ attitudes to the role of helicopters in political

Politics Tony Abbott picks his fights, and loves, on the basis of the enemies he will enrage. This time he’s decided to love coal, but he has also enraged key sections of the National Party. First published in the Australian Financial Review – here. As the coal price continues to fall, the financial case for

First published in The Australian Financial Review, 30 June 2015 – Here The Business Council of Australia once defended free markets, but now it and others only support reforms that help its big business friends. If the Business Council of Australia (BCA) was serious about reducing government waste it would have slammed the recent announcement

While Norway’s decision to divest its $900 billion sovereign wealth fund from coal shares sent shock waves around the financial world, it was the way the Norwegian parliament made the decision that is truly radical. Norway has a conservative minority government, but the idea to sell out of coal started with an NGO, was taken

The mining industry is furious that if you make a donation to an environment group, your donation is tax deductible. You know the drill. You give someone in a koala suit anything over $2, they give you a receipt and go off to save an owl, hug a tree or, more likely, make a submission

Tax policy Resources companies and lobby groups are lobbying a parliamentary inquiry to strip political climate groups of their charity status. But resources companies can deduct the money they pay to their industry groups from tax. Speech isn’t free in Australia. It isn’t even cheap. Corporate Australia spends billions telling the public, and our politicians,

A little bit of economic theory is a dangerous thing, and many of the people defending what BHP and Rio Tinto have done to the price of iron ore are demonstrating that they have very little economic knowledge indeed. Economists usually don’t like cartels, or other forms of producer protections, as they help producers and

The iron ore price is well above its long-term average. Indeed, at $US50 per tonne it is well above the $US36 price that Wayne Swan inherited in 2007. Blaming the iron ore price for Western Australia’s budgetary woes is like blaming the sinking of the Titanic on the iceberg. Yes, it’s a factor and yes,

Imagine this. You’re a State Government minister. Your department and the most powerful industry it regulates are under fire for failing to comply with your government’s own guidelines. Courts, the media and community groups keep complaining that the industry breaks the guidelines and your department lets them get away with it. Even the consultants you

Whether Tony Abbott limps on as PM or Malcolm Turnbull swoops in to lead the coalition, it is clear that big changes in policy are on the cards, and the area that is ripe for the biggest change is climate policy. There’s no easier way for the coalition to both signal that they have learned

The Newman government was handing an Indian billionaire billions of dollars of taxpayer money for literally – literally – no reason. During the recent state election, both the LNP and Labor in Queensland broadly supported the Carmichael coal project by Indian mining giant Adani. The key difference was whether they were expecting the taxpayer to

Once upon a time if a project couldn’t make a profit without government support conservative politicians would have called it a bad investment. Not these days. Take, for example, the Queensland government’s plan to spend $2 billion on coal transport infrastructure trying to make marginal mines in the Galilee basin financially viable. Even after enormous

The Queensland government’s decision to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into the Adani coal project in the Galilee basin proves, once and for all, that the mining industry are leaners, not lifters.

In a world in which war is waged for humanitarian reasons but sending doctors and nurses to prevent an outbreak of Ebola is considered too risky, almost any spin seems possible. But surely the mining industry’s claim that the best way to tackle global energy poverty is to build more coal mines takes the biscuit.