This Month
Soil carbon capture surges as AI drives down costs
Artificial intelligence can reduce barriers to implementing soil carbon projects as ag tech creates new opportunities.
- Agnes King
August
BHP, Rio and Qantas back $250m carbon fund to beef up emission offsets
The fund is being run by Silva Capital, itself a joint venture of agriculture-focused private capital investor ROC Capital and C6 Investment Management.
- Ben Potter
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Union iron ore claim poses risks for green superpower hopes
Let’s hope for the sake of Australia’s energy transition that we don’t return to the bad old days of industrial disruption in the Pilbara.
- The AFR View
July
Marex raids Jarden’s carbon trading business, opens NZ office
The Nasdaq-listed firm has snared Jarden rainmaker Nigel Brunel and a swathe of the Kiwi investment bank’s carbon trading team.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
This investor is slimming down its stake in Blackstone-backed Xpansiv
The carbon trading platform counts some heavyweight backers including the private equity giant and Macquarie. But Perennial is selling down its investment.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
- Technology Winner
- Sustainability Leaders
New tools democratise greenhouse gas management
A digital marketplace for companies with smaller carbon footprints to buy offsets has taken out the Technology category.
- Alexandra Cain
June
Agriculture wins carbon price reprieve in New Zealand
Farmers had protested against previous proposals to impose a regulated price on methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions from late 2025.
- Tracy Withers
May
- Opinion
- Letters to the Editor
A carbon tax and dividend scheme could be the answer
Readers’ letters on the pressing need for a carbon tax; why we shouldn’t fear AI; in defence of mortgage brokers; and the reality of climate change.
- Opinion
- Opinion
Taxpayers are poorer without a carbon tax
Instead of imposing a carbon levy on polluters to fund big personal income tax cuts, governments are gambling taxpayer money on climate and energy projects.
- John Kehoe
Rest Super-backed Cibus to push into carbon farming and robotics
Cibus Capital will make a big push into regenerative farming and will use the latest robotics to expand one of the country’s biggest seedling growers.
- Larry Schlesinger
Subsidy wars: Carbon capture cost adds up for fertiliser maker
Carbon capture and storage would add 50 per cent to the cost of producing ammonia in the Pilbara, making it uneconomic without further government support.
- Ben Potter
- Opinion
- Energy transition
Critics wrong about our clean energy ‘superpower’ plan picking winners
We share concerns about arbitrary government intervention, but our carbon pricing model is designed to minimise those risks.
- Ross Garnaut and Rod Sims
The $13.6 trillion question: how do we pay for the green transition?
The private sector will have to provide about 70 per cent of climate finance globally, and the heat is building on governments to deliver policies that do that.
- Attracta Mooney
Blackstone-backed Xpansiv considers new cash call
Early soundings are said to be pegged at a 30 per cent discount to the last valuation. The identity of the seller has not been disclosed.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
April
Why Mike Cannon-Brookes invested in this mushroom
A tree-planting boom is required to get the world to net-zero, and the billionaire is betting mushrooms and fungi will be a crucial enabler
- Peter Ker and Lap Phan
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
BHP tied to gas until 2053 as power need swells on electric fleet
Decarbonisation of Australia’s biggest export industry will require almost seven times more power and BHP wants gas to play a role until at least 2053.
- Peter Ker
Henry demands billions for nature repair market
The economist wants a public fund to spur corporate involvement in “nature-positive” land protection.
- Jacob Greber
Can one of our dirtiest coal plants reap a green bonanza?
Verdant Earth has lofty ambitions to turn the moribund Redbank into a major clean energy precinct using biomass. Environmentalists are still unhappy.
- Ben Potter