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CEFC

May

Can Labor turn a big win into a green energy reality?

Clean energy advocates hope Labor can use the policy seeds planted in its first term to deliver its energy transition agenda. The reality will be much harder.

Pollination managing directors Brer Adams and Jonathan Kelly and chief investment officer Diana Callebaut had hoped to raised $150 million.

‘Green Macquarie’ Pollination fails to raise $150m venture fund

Despite securing cornerstone investment from Queensland’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, Pollination has had to scrap ambitions to invest in climate start-ups.

Kane Thornton’s (right) style of advocacy has been criticised by some in the clean energy sector.

Renewables lobby leaderless after long-serving boss quits

Australia’s top industry advocate has stepped down less than a week after an election he called a “referendum on renewable energy”.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

Chalmers didn’t know a key budget number. This is why it matters

Treasurer Jim Chalmers failed to recognise a $47 billion deficit figure in an oversight that economist Saul Eslake says exposes the government for glossing over so-called “off budget” spending.

March

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher hold a press conference during the budget lock up.

Labor’s spending ‘diet’ not believable, economists warn

Labor’s budget forecasts for spending to decline slightly from a 40-year high are built on shaky savings assumptions economists say, and are unlikely to be achieved.

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Calling all institutions: The CEFC wants to drum up capital for developments meeting EU-level emissions standards.

CEFC, $11b Goldman Sachs fund will invest in low-carbon developments

The federal government’s green bank says it’s leading other investors into more sustainable project investment.

CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth

Green bank backs electrification, but offshore wind too risky

Clean Energy Finance Corporation chief executive Ian Learmonth says the $33 billion fund has shifted towards supporting household electrification and major poles and wire projects vital to Australia’s green energy transition.

The CEFC last week invested $550 million of taxpayer-backed capital in a bond sale by ASX-listed electricity transmission grid operator Transgrid for its critical HumeLink poles and wires project in NSW.

Has the green bank outlived its purpose? It’s a $32.5 billion question

If the taxpayer-funded Clean Energy Finance Corporation is to continue, its role should be to provide a subsidy in areas when there is a lack of private capital or a genuine market failure.

January

The CEFC has evolved into a taxpayer funded green bank.

As CEFC billions roll in, the green bank faces a political test

Extra funds of $2 billion for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation invite questions over its future, as the opposition’s Ted O’Brien says “the whole thing is absurd”.

Donald Trump’s antagonism to renewable energy is most obvious when it comes to wind power.

How Trump’s war on green energy affects Australia

Donald Trump’s plans for an energy revolution will blow strong political winds across Australia’s energy market.

Much of the CEFC funding in 2025 would go to clean generation and large transmission projects.

Labor pumps $2b into green bank despite Trump’s fossil fuel push

The first extra funding for the country’s green bank since it was set up in 2012 contrasts with the pullback on clean energy under Trump 2.0.

Boosting the pipeline: AXA IM Australia head Antoine Mesnage, left, and CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth at the 397-unit Westmead project  in Sydney.

Residential development gets an $800 million new year kick

The latest chunk of money ploughed into the country’s chronic housing shortage shows Australian build-to-rent is now a mainstream sector for overseas capital.

Senator Jane Hume in Melbourne on Friday.

Opposition savings from housing, green energy funds in doubt

Senator Jane Hume says the Coalition will interrogate Labor’s billions of dollars tied up in funds for housing, clean energy and manufacturing, but admits they may be difficult to unwind.

December 2024

Project EnergyConnect will link South Australia’s grid to NSW’s.

Milestone reached to unlock Snowy 2.0 power

The government’s green bank has committed its single biggest investment to the HumeLink transmission project, which is considered critical to the cleaner energy transition.

Mineral Resources chairman James McClements speaks at the AGM.

MinRes chairman’s private equity firm scores big cash gift

James McClements’ Resource Capital Funds was given a $116 million handout from Australia’s “green bank”.

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Hitting it for six: The minimum standard of six star thermal efficiency ratings set in 2010 was upgraded to 7 stars last year.

Older, ‘cheaper’ houses hide costs that bite owners

More than 80 per cent of Australia’s houses have half the energy efficiency of the latest standards – and that’s going to make them less valuable.

The CEFC is a long-time supporter of Pilbara Minerals and its Pilgangoora project.

CEFC hands $116m for private equity-backed mining decarbonisation

Resource Capital Funds will use the money to invest in new Australian projects that focus on minerals used in the energy transition such as lithium and copper.

Chris King, the chief executive of Spend, says its fleet will grow to 10,000 vehicles next year.

Macquarie inks $300m deal to finance EVs for ride-share drivers

Splend, a start-up that leases electric vehicles to Uber drivers, plans to increase its fleet of ride-share vehicles to 10,000 after signing a new debt deal.

Energy Locals chief executive Adrian Merrick.

CEFC acquires minority stake in Palisade Impact’s Energy Locals

In its debut growth equity investment, CEFC has paid $25 million to acquire a minority equity stake in electricity retailer Energy Locals.

November 2024

Peter Costello, left, set up the Future Fund when he was treasurer. Changes put in place Treasurer Jim Chalmers (centre) that will be acted on by the new Future Fund chairman Greg Combet (right) risk making it a “slush fund”, Costello says.

‘I would not have agreed to Future Fund shift’

With $230 billion to come into play, expect a long line of rent-seekers to form a queue, says former treasurer and Future Fund founder Peter Costello.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/company/clean-energy-finance-corporation-1nex