This Month
What Charles Dickens can teach you about utes
The English author mapped out the lobbying tactics of the legacy car makers against vehicle emissions standards 170 years ago.
- Tristan Edis
Nuclear power: Could we? Should we?
This week on The Fin podcast: Ben Potter and Jacob Greber on Dutton’s atomic bet, the economics of nuclear energy and whether the AI revolution changes the debate.
Offshore Gippsland licences to unlock $100b of generation
The winners of a dozen offshore wind licences are preparing for offtake auctions that seek to harness world-class resources.
- Ben Potter
- Sponsored
- BINGO Industries
Australian businesses ramp up recycling ahead of new climate rules
As Australia gears up for a seismic shift in the enforcement of climate disclosure rules, the nation’s waste management sector is getting ahead of the curve.
Sponsored
by BINGO Industries
April
New gas supplies ‘needed’ says Bowen as Gippsland wind takes off
Energy Minister Chris Bowen believes Australia has no option but to seek new supplies of gas even as he green-lights six potential offshore Gippsland wind projects.
- Jacob Greber
Kean questions need for Eraring bailout
It will be the “NSW government”, not the renewables sector, that faces the music if sluggish wind, solar and transmission rollout leads to blackouts.
- Updated
- Jacob Greber
- Exclusive
- Electricity
Former Labor leader to chair Victoria’s SEC
Simon Corbell, a former ACT deputy chief minister, will chair Victoria’s revised State Electricity Commission, after its advisory board was disbanded.
- Ben Potter and Patrick Durkin
Coal mine methane twice official disclosures: Sims
Australia’s open cut coal mines could be emitting twice as much methane as official disclosures suggest, casting doubt on national carbon emissions data.
- Ben Potter
- Opinion
- Energy transition
Post-coal power choice is renationalisation or redesigning the market
An integrated net-zero electricity system depends on governments restoring faith in the market delivering enough power to the right places at the right time.
- Tony Wood
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Woodside Energy’s part in BHP’s low-carbon transition
The irony is that “The Big Australian” has the financial resources to bid for Anglo American partly because its legacy fossil fuel assets are now on Woodside Energy’s books.
- The AFR View
- Analysis
- Gas
Woodside caught between twin objectives on a collision course
Woodside is hoping that technology, hard work and deployment will reconcile fidelity to net-zero with growth by pumping oil and gas.
- Ben Potter
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Tactical Woodside vote a metaphor for Australia’s low-carbon transition
Can chairman Richard Goyder and CEO Meg O’Neill crack the problem of shifting from a carbon-intensive resources company to a green one without destroying shareholder value?
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Canberra Observed
Dutton’s atomic bet threatens Coalition chain reaction over climate
Rather than keep the heat on Labor’s handling of the cost-of-living pain as inflation stays high, the opposition leader’s nuclear venture risks becoming the story.
- Jacob Greber
- Opinion
- Climate policy
Voting down Woodside’s climate plan a shareholder activism milestone
This is a pivotal moment for other climate-science-denying board directors, a signal to act on their fiduciary duties, or suffer the consequences personally.
- Tim Buckley and Annemarie Jonson
Woodside climate plan sunk but Goyder survives
The proxy battle pitched Australia’s largest gas producer against activists that argue its path could tip the balance towards more dangerous climate change.
- Updated
- Ben Potter and Tom Rabe
Australia’s richest firms get $331m in grants to reduce emissions
The government has doled out $331 million to firms including Rio Tinto, Wesfarmers, Swiss giant Glencore and Rich Lister Dick Honan’s Manildra for decarbonisation projects.
- Ben Potter
- Opinion
- Climate policy
Australia can prosper under international carbon prices
The EU’s carbon border tax will create new opportunities for this country but only if the Australian government invests strategically in the right industries.
- Ingrid Burfurd
- Exclusive
- Gas
Big US pension funds, Aware want Richard Goyder off Woodside board
But AustralianSuper says it will back the businessman, even as it votes against the oil and gas giant’s climate plans, at a shareholder meeting on Wednesday.
- Ben Potter and Hannah Wootton
- Exclusive
- Richard Goyder
Richard Goyder counts down the days at Woodside, Qantas and the AFL
The businessman faces a crucial vote at the oil and gas giant’s annual meeting. He’s already planning his exit from the highest-profile boards in the country.
- Patrick Durkin
Green antics give corporates nightmares
After Nick McKim’s savaging of Brad Banducci, business may be wary of co-operating with Greens-led inquiries. Some, it seems, already are.
- Updated
- Myriam Robin