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Category: Markets

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Rooftop solar eats away at network business models

Rooftop solar eats away at network business models

Australian network operators say growing penetration of rooftop solar is cutting volumes, but its revenues are up because it can charge more to its customers. Can anyone see where this is headed? Network operators no longer have a licence to print money. Even market analysts have a sell recommendation.

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Two-thirds of world’s top companies have set green targets

Two-thirds of world’s top companies have set green targets

New analysis has found that 68% of companies in the Global 100 list have targets to lower emissions and/or purchase clean energy.

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Free market hypocrisy: America’s energy double standard

Free market hypocrisy: America’s energy double standard

Calls for a ‘free-market’ approach to clean energy development are pure hypocrisy. Why hold renewables to different standards than fossil fuels?

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Coal at a crossroads as ‘rational’ thinking sets in

Coal at a crossroads as ‘rational’ thinking sets in

A new report released by Deutsche Bank says the global coal market faces a combined threat of steadily growing supply and a levelling-off or decline in demand. A threat, it says, that should guide rational decision-making to delay all major expansion. But will governments really act rationally?

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Grantham urges climate scientists: Be aggressive, be brave, be arrested

Grantham urges climate scientists: Be aggressive, be brave, be arrested

The seriousness of climate change is not appreciated by politicians and the public. Scientists must speak out, leading funds manager says.

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How the anti-coal campaign is protecting Australia’s economy

How the anti-coal campaign is protecting Australia’s economy

It might seem ironic, but environmentalists and farmers fighting the expansion of coal mining and coal seam gas across Australia are the only thing likely to moderate the rude economic awakening we face when the global carbon bubble bursts and the fossil fuel industries start their inevitable, terminal decline.

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Australia’s ‘carbon budget black hole’: Fact or political fiction?

Australia’s ‘carbon budget black hole’: Fact or political fiction?

Is the falling European carbon price as dangerous as everyone is saying, or is the hype around it mostly politically opportunistic?

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Mixed Greens: S Korea set to introduce world’s highest carbon price

Mixed Greens: S Korea set to introduce world’s highest carbon price

BNEF report says $90/tCO2 carbon price would make South Korea ETS world’s most ambitious. Plus: SolarCity posts loss.

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Coal hits new low as NEM demand continues to fall

Coal hits new low as NEM demand continues to fall

The latest Cedex report finds the total amount of electricity supplied by Australia’s coal-fired generators at its lowest level in the history of the NEM. But while the report links the introduction of the carbon price to falling emissions and rising renewables output, the reduced demand for coal looks more like the new normal.

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Graph of the Day: Solar investment allure of Sunbelt countries

Graph of the Day: Solar investment allure of Sunbelt countries

Australia ranks among other Sunbelt countries as a clear leader on the latest global solar PV investment attractiveness index.

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HSBC: World is hurtling towards Peak Planet

HSBC: World is hurtling towards Peak Planet

HSBC says the world is rapidly depleting its carbon budget, approaching ‘Peak Planet’ and must achieve a peak in emissions by 2020, leaving much of its fossil fuels in the ground. Impossible? HSBC says not, and is encouraged by growing public awareness, favourable economic drivers and falling technology costs for renewables.

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Carbon bubble: $6 trillion of new investments at risk

Carbon bubble: $6 trillion of new investments at risk

New report finds that up to 80 per cent of world’s fossil fuel reserves could now be “unburnable”, and if left to their own devices Big Energy would invest another $6 trillion in assets that could prove worthless. But as the size and implications of the carbon bubble grows, Australia’s carbon debate is derailed by economic trivia.

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Graph of the Day: Even a moderate US carbon price has a big impact

Graph of the Day: Even a moderate US carbon price has a big impact

Chart shows carbon price of $US25 leaves emissions in 2040 one-third lower than current levels, and 40% lower than 2005 levels.

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Mixed Greens: ARENA faces funding cuts in budget carbon shuffle

Mixed Greens: ARENA faces funding cuts in budget carbon shuffle

Reports ARENA is facing cuts of up to $200m. Plus: Dyesol’s tech ‘quantum leap’; UK Green Bank commits £635 million to 11 projects.

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Australia could blow its carbon budget within 15 years

Australia could blow its carbon budget within 15 years

Australia is at risk of blowing its own carbon budget within 15 years – even with its current bipartisan climate change policies – and might need to cut its emissions by more than half by 2030 in a world that acts to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

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Natural gas exports: friend or foe?

Natural gas exports: friend or foe?

James Bradbury, who on Tuesday testified before the US House of Reps, examines the climate implications of exporting LNG.

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20 million by 2020: Can EV sales help deliver 2°C climate target?

20 million by 2020: Can EV sales help deliver 2°C climate target?

IEA says global EV sales are on track to meet its 2°C scenario – but only with the right policy and dramatically lower battery costs.

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Australian cleantech sector tips $30bn – outranks car making

Australian cleantech sector tips $30bn – outranks car making

Australia’s often-ignored cleantech sector is now bigger than car making and one quarter the size of the country’s entire manufacturing sector. A new report also highlights the big trends in 2013 – growing investment from overseas, a rush to an ETS whoever wins government, and a stronger focus on energy and resource efficiency.