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Energy

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Labor should create a “Regional Carbon Bank” for ASEAN and the Pacific

Much of the discussion about climate change policy in Australia has focused on the changes needed by the new Albanese Labor government to align Australia with international goals such as those discussed in Glasgow in November last year. The focus on domestic issues is understandable but the approach

By Peter McCawley

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Japan-Australia: building a hydrogen supply chain

Of the many issues canvassed at the Quad leaders’ meeting in Tokyo last week, the four partners stressed the importance of common energy supply chains. The leaders agreed in particular on the significance of “clean energy cooperation” in “clean hydrogen”. With a new Australian

By Akimoto Daisuke

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No Gas: Lessons from Poland and Bulgaria for the Quad

While Russia’s attempt to blackmail Poland and Bulgaria by cutting off natural gas supplies may seem a distant question for the nations of the Indo-Pacific, we believe it is relevant and urgent. Accordingly, the leaders of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, the group known as “the

By Angus Houston, Marc Grossman

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Energy security: Embracing technological neutrality

Energy security has been a global issue for some time, but only recently has it struck Australians as a day-to-day problem. Price hikes at the bowser and the shortage of AdBlue for diesel engines that preceded its fivefold price increase are constant reminders that energy security is not just the

By Michael de Percy, John Poljak

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When the tank’s empty: Australia’s impoverished energy security

The Australian government’s announcement on 13 April that it will subsidise the country’s oil refineries to the tune of $250 million for projects that will not be completed until 2024 highlights the problems with Australia’s present approach to energy security. For more than a decade,

By Christian Downie

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The Ukraine crisis and Timor-Leste

In the midst of an international crisis, it is remarkable when small countries still find the courage to adhere to their democratic principles. This time the Timorese government has chosen to respect its independence history and democratic values by condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This

By Andrea Fahey

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Russia’s war will hasten the drive for clean energy security

Russia is a huge producer and exporter of fossil fuels, especially oil and gas. By waging war on Ukraine and all this brings with it for geopolitics, its energy trade will change. It will be a short-term boost to other energy exporters, but the bigger effect will be a fundamental re-think on energy

By Frank Jotzo

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Nord Stream 2: Will you go to the Gazprom with me?

Of the several spectres haunting Europe, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is one of the most persistent. This week, the project hit another snag. Its approval process was temporarily halted by the German energy regulator because Nord Stream AG, the Swiss-based consortium which owns the pipeline (

By Mateo Szlapek-Sewillo

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Iran’s energy diplomacy

Much is made of Iran’s use of proxy or allied groups to exert “hard power” influence throughout the Middle East where Tehran believes its interests are under threat (Lebanon), or sees an opportunity to exert greater influence (Syria, Iraq), or to act as a spoiler (Yemen). But far less is made

By Rodger Shanahan

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Australia’s potential as a “green” hydrogen superpower

In the lead-up to the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in November, the world is looking for nations to step up in the clean energy sector. Australia, with its plentiful resources, economic capacity and established trade connectivity is perfectly poised to become a leader in that step-up –

By James Bowen

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OPEC Standoff: Resetting market share

The 1 July OPEC meeting ended in deadlock. Although all the major oil producers agreed in principle to collectively boost production by 400,000 barrels per month from August through the end of 2021, they failed to agree on how long the production agreement should last, putting the whole deal on hold

By Rachel Ziemba

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Coal’s decline is underway, no matter what Australia’s politicians say

It would have been so easy. In response to the G7 resolution “to achieve an overwhelmingly decarbonised power system in the 2030s” with focus on stopping investment in traditional coal power plants, the Australian PM could have simply said “that’s right, same here, and by the way we will cut

By Frank Jotzo

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Russia’s energy sector: Accumulating effects of Western sanctions

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and incursion into eastern Ukraine, the West imposed targeted sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, the most revenue-generating part of the Russian economy. The sanctions pinpointed the key vulnerabilities within the energy sector – high

By Maria Shagina

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Nord Stream 2: Assessing Russia’s “serious geopolitical victory”

Europe doesn’t appear likely to reduce its dependency on Russian energy any time soon. The much-discussed, much-debated construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, linking Russia with Germany via the Baltic Sea, is now almost completed. And there are signs suggesting Moscow and

By Nikola Mikovic

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Australia’s place in a decarbonising world economy

A welcome change is underway in the international effort to combat dangerous global warming. It will have big implications for the Australian economy. The United States, European Union and China – the world’s three biggest emitters – are now all targeting net zero emissions by mid-century (

By Roland Rajah

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Indonesia lags on renewable energy, and pays the price

Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s vision to make the country a destination for foreign company investments neglects the growing demand for clean energy. RE100, a group of global companies committed to using 100% renewable energy, reached an annual total electricity consumption in

By Diwangkara Bagus Nugraha, Filda Citra Yusgiantoro

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Biden’s clean energy plan versus China’s green tech dominance

A man who has earned a reputation for compromise and dealmaking over his half-century in Washington, Joe Biden has also won the presidency by presenting himself as a national unifier, while simultaneously putting forward a policy agenda that some consider to be the most progressive in American

By Elliott Zaagman

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Crew-change crisis risks supply chains – and lives

Twenty-four crew members of the Al Messilah, a livestock carrier under Kuwaiti flag, tested positive last week for Covid-19 at Fremantle Port in Western Australia. They are among the few cases where maritime crews have tested positive. Despite assumptions that ships are an especially

By Christiaan De Beukelaer

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Despite headwinds, China prepares for world’s largest carbon market

In late 2017, China released its national emissions trading system (ETS) plan, laying out a three-stage transition from regional pilot systems that began in 2013. The national ETS announcement came at a time of intense global interest in China’s climate action, especially given the November 2020

By Huw Slater

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The high price of cheap oil for Saudi Arabia

The ramifications from the oil war that has pitted Saudi Arabia against Russia but also dragged in the United States may end up being most significant for Riyadh. To misquote Oscar Wilde, “To lose one war may be regarded as misfortune, to lose both looks like carelessness.” Having already

By Rodger Shanahan

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Negative oil prices: Why Asian nations may struggle to take advantage

On 20 April 20, US oil futures closed in negative territory for the first time, implying that no one was willing to take physical delivery of some barrels of oil. While the unprecedented price moves were exacerbated by technical market operations, including an excessively large exchange traded fund

By Rachel Ziemba

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The complex consequences of a plunging oil price

Oil made headlines around the world again today, with US oil prices falling below zero for the first time. So what does it mean? Three perspectives can help to make sense of the headlines. First, from an economic perspective it’s quite simple – the supply of oil has outstripped demand and

By Christian Downie

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Australia has an IEA problem, not a fuel security problem

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is an intergovernmental organisation focused on ensuring reliable, clean, and affordable energy for its 30 member states. To achieve this aim, member states are required to hold oil stockpiles, allowing states to coordinate a collective response to major

By Jacob Stokes

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It’s time for Australia to scale up its energy diplomacy

Later this month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison will travel to Osaka for the annual G20 Leaders’ summit, and he will no doubt want to make his mark following his election triumph. Advocating for the reform of the international energy architecture would be a good place to start, given the rapidly

By Christian Downie

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The global energy outlook and what it means for climate change

There are so many strongly-held views, so many vested interests and lobbyists, so much political spin and such complexity in the energy/climate debate that it is not easy to find reliable forecasts and commentary. One of the more useful sources is the International Energy Agency – an autonomous

By Stephen Grenville

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Clear waters and green mountains: Will Xi Jinping take the lead on climate change?

President Trump’s retreat on climate change put China ‘in the driver’s seat’. But to really demonstrate leadership, China needs to green its overseas investments

By Sam Geall

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The two Americas at COP23

Before his fall from grace, former Democratic vice-presidential candidate John Edwards used to talk about 'the two Americas' to describe the gap between the poor and the wealthy. But the phrase earned an afterlife, not least to describe the philosophical chasm between the coastal areas that

By Adam Morton

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Global lessons from South Australia's power dilemma

South Australia (SA) has become a global case study for what can go wrong when energy policy fails to keep pace with changes in technology and commodity markets. Following the closure of the Northern coal-fired power plant in May 2016, SA has experienced a set of blackouts. The most significant

By Seb Henbest

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Obama's legacy: Bold leadership on climate

Battling climate change was a signature issue of President Barack Obama’s tenure, particularly during the his second term. In contrast, President-elect Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, vowed to roll back climate regulations such as the Clean Power Plan (CPP

By Keith J. Benes

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Trump-sized upheaval in climate movement

The election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States cast a long shadow over the climate conference in Morocco earlier this month. Delegates spent a lot of time expressing hopes that President-elect Trump was not serious when he declared climate change theory to be a 'hoax'

By Mark Lawson

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Quick comment: Sam Geall on Trump, China and international climate change negotiations

In an interview published by the New York Times (see the full transcript here), US President-elect Donald Trump significantly softened his rhetoric on climate change, saying he has an 'open mind' to it and that he is 'looking at it very closely' – a marked change from previous statements

By John Gooding

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The switch to renewables: Lessons from small islands

Those actively pushing for a future where renewables take over electricity generation often point to island grids such as El Hierro in the Spanish Canary Islands, Kodiak Island in Alaska, and King Island in Australia’s Bass Strait. On those islands and others, renewables have proved a

By Mark Lawson

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TurkStream: Putin’s latest triumph over the West? (Part 2)

For part one of this essay, click here. As explained in part one, Turkstream is a joint venture between Russia’s state-owned gas behemoth Gazprom and Turkey’s state-owned BOTAS. The route would transport Russian gas to Turkey under the Black Sea. The second stage of the project would focus on

By Elizabeth Buchanan

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TurkStream: Putin’s latest triumph over the West? (Part 1)

Russia’s resurgence is undeniable. Whether it be in Syria, Ukraine, or Crimea, Russia is making headlines. There are allegations of Kremlin backed cyber-attacks on the current US presidential election, as well as reports of systematic democratic rollbacks within Russia. Russia is busy

By Elizabeth Buchanan

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Floating nuclear plants and safety zones: Another looming problem in the South China Sea?

China’s first floating nuclear power plant is expected to be operational by 2019, and will likely be deployed to the South China Sea to support China’s outposts and oil drilling operations. CNOOC, the state enterprise which owns the mobile oilrig that deployed to disputed waters with

By John Lee

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Green power has a long way to go

One factor driving energy policies across the world is repeated claims by activists that green energy is gaining substantial market share over its despised fossil fuel competitors. These claims, made for the likes of the Danish, German, Californian and even Chinese grids, are distorting the energy

By Mark Lawson

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Winning the coal endgame: Why a moratorium on new mines makes economic sense

This is the second in a two part series by Fergus Green, climate policy consultant and researcher, London School of Economics and Political Science and Richard Denniss, chief economist, The Australia Institute. Part one examined trends in coal demand; now the authors turn their attention to supply

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Indian exceptionalism and realistic responses to climate change

At a discussion in Washington DC this spring, I was quizzed with a degree of annoyance on the multiple messages coming out of New Delhi with respect to India’s position on a global agreement to combat climate change. In the same discussion there was also an exasperated inquisition on why Indian

By Samir Saran

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Humanity's carbon countdown

First, the good news. We have enough fossil fuel to survive until the century's end. Today's proven reserves of coal, oil and gas combined is about 83 years (at current usage rates), so Spaceship Earth could make 2100 – the exact date that IPCC scientists have set for mankind's plan to moderate

By Julian Snelder

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Why we still need UN climate negotiations

The Marrakesh Accords, the Bali Roadmap, the Cancun Agreements, the Durban Outcomes, the Doha Climate Gateway, the Lima Call for Climate Action – the grand names given to decisions taken under the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) stand in contrast to the meagre progress made on

By Seb Henbest

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Sino-Pakistan civil nuclear cooperation: A growing challenge to the global nuclear order

The Pakistani newspaper Dawn declared that at least 1200 people had died in Karachi, capital of the worst affected Pakistani state, Sindh, during the recent week-long heatwave. The effects of the abnormally high temperatures have been exacerbated by local infrastructure that has struggled to cope;

By Matthew Cottee

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China makes its formal climate-change pledge

China's long-anticipated formal pledge to international climate change negotiations, it's 'intended nationally determined contribution' or INDC, has arrived. China's target is a 60% to 65% reduction in the emissions-intensity of the economy by 2030 pegged at 2005 levels, with carbon dioxide

By Frank Jotzo

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MRC bows out of Don Sahong discussions

There has been little news of the much criticised proposed dam at Don Sahong in the far south of Laos since the beginning of the year, when the Mekong River Commission (MRC) arranged for a series of public meetings to be held in member countries to discuss the dam. From the start, these meetings

By Milton Osborne

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Lowy poll: On China and energy, Australia maintains its sunny disposition

Overall, Australians continue to feel secure in the face of rising instability in the world and terrorism threats at home, according to the latest Lowy Institute poll. But that sense of security is declining. 80% of those asked how safe they feel about world events responded positively in 2015.

By Euan Graham

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The road to Paris: Ten days and counting

The latest round of negotiations for the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change closed in Bonn last Friday with mixed results. With ten formal negotiating days left until crucial climate negotiations resume in Paris later this year, the clock is ticking. Bonn Climate Change Conference, 1 June

By Erwin Jackson

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Can LNG continue to fuel Papua New Guinea's economic growth?

2015 has been heralded as the year when Papua New Guinea (PNG) will enjoy the highest GDP growth rate in the world, on the back of its first full year of liquefied natural gas production. Confidence in the anticipated revenue from the ExxonMobil-led project has encouraged the O'Neill Government

By Paul Barker

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SA's Royal Commission into nuclear energy: Let's talk about waste

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has announced the establishment of a Royal Commission to consider Australia's, and specifically South Australia's, possible future role in nuclear energy. He has invited comments on the terms of reference of the Commission, which are to be finalised in March

By John Tilemann

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Australia is not meeting its IEA oil reserve targets

The plunge in the global oil price is a hot topic. Between June 2014 and January 2015, the price of crude has dropped by 57%. Most of the attention has been on the boon for consumers, with a litre of petrol in some parts of Australia now counted in cents, not dollars. But while Australia is

By Christian Downie

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Indonesia leads on petrol subsidies, but will others follow?

The fall in the world oil price has created the opportunity to eliminate petroleum subsidies in a number of Southeast Asian countries. These subsidies have been the long-standing bane of economic reformers everywhere, but until now reducing them involved the deeply unpopular task of raising petrol

By Stephen Grenville

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Oil drops 50%, world shrugs

What does the fall in the price of oil do for global economic growth? If the price of oil had swiftly risen by 50%, economic commentators would be calling this an economic disaster. In fact the price has fallen by 50% since June last year, yet this ray of good news hasn't pierced through the

By Stephen Grenville

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