Investing in the net zero economy

Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to be here today. 

“A new economy is rising, while the old polluting one is running out of road.” 

That was the message from UN climate chief Simon Stiell as COP30 wrapped up in Belem, following marathon talks last Friday night stretching into Saturday’s sunrise – another turning point for climate ambition and global solidarity.  

Whilst there was a muted response to the success of the recent UN conference in Brazil, it was universally agreed that climate related finance was central to the success of the transition and the key decision to mobilise $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for climate action reflects the importance of capital to implement the Paris Agreement.  

As Australia’s green bank, catalytic climate related finance is at the forefront of what we do – to show impact, identify gaps and explain how we are investing taxpayers’ money, and what taxpayers get in return. 

The CEFC's record of achievement

The CEFC is a critical lever in Australia’s race to net zero. We recently reported a record breaking 2024-25 financial year: with $4.7 billion in commitments delivering a record $25.7 billion in total transaction value, and deploying over $2.9 billion. 

A great 12-month result. But when added to our 12-year investment activity, it shows how transformative CEFC capital has been: we have committed $18.3 billion, delivering more than $85 billion in total transaction value. For every $1.00 of CEFC capital, we crowded in an additional $3.55 from the private sector - powerful evidence of our ability to lead finance to where it is needed, and to avoid taking the place of willing private capital in these investment opportunities. 

Catalytic CEFC capital has been deployed across transmission infrastructure; renewable energy and storage; natural capital and sustainable agriculture; household energy efficiency; and climate technology, in order to advance Australia’s clean energy transition. 

The challenge of the clean energy transition  

Renewable energy generation now supplies more than 40 per cent of electricity across Australia’s two largest grids – the NEM and the WEM – but this upward trend must be much steeper if we are to reach 82 per cent renewables by 2030. 

Based on AEMO’s 2024 ISP, in terms of generation, in the NEM alone, Australia needs to install an estimated 29 GW of large-scale renewable generation by 2030 – 6.3 GW a year or 520 MW per month. A decent sized wind farm every month.  

And we need some 3,300 km of transmission lines in the NEM alone by 2030.  

Put simply, Australia needs to build more wind and solar farms, and big batteries, and to build them faster. We need to continue to install more solar panels across our rooftops, and we need more home batteries charging our appliances and feeding excess energy to the grid. We need more EVs on our roads and charging in our garages, kerbsides and in shopping centre car parks. We need to roll out the transmission that collects green electrons where they are generated and delivers them to homes and businesses around the country. 

It is a massive overhaul of our energy, and our lifestyles. And while the benefits are considerable, so too is the investment required.  

Our estimate, using data from BloombergNEF, Reputex and our own internal modelling, is that in order to decarbonise, Australia needs investment of some $500 billion in transmission, generation, storage and electrified transport.  

Public finance alone cannot do the job. But it can be catalytic, as evidenced by the CEFC’s track record of helping develop Australia’s large-scale wind, solar and batteries. 

Today, CEFC finance is still making a critical difference in helping overcome financing gaps that are delaying timely delivery of these critical assets. 

Our terms and interest rates are constantly being flexed to accommodate challenges developers and sponsors have in reaching FID, as they wait for grid connections, address potential cost overruns or provide assistance to maintain lower energy prices and network charges to consumers. CEFC finance can be the bridge that encourages a developer to break ground on a site while still waiting for the transmission infrastructure to be delivered or grid connection to be guaranteed. 

Investing to Rewire the Nation 

Nowhere is CEFC capital more transformative than in the rollout of the nation-building Rewiring the Nation (RTN). We have now committed more than $7 billion across seven projects through the $19 billion RTN Fund to strengthen our energy grid, connecting renewable energy and large-scale energy storage to key demand centres. This includes our largest ever investment commitment, $3.8 billion in project finance to Marinius Link’s Stage 1 - a 750 MW cable across the Bass Strait linking Tasmania and Victoria’s electricity systems. 

These projects are complex – often crossing multiple jurisdictions with varied regulatory mechanisms, delivering vast amounts of infrastructure and deploying a range of technologies. The financial part of the equation is no less complicated. Our experience working with developers, financiers, regulators and Governments to deliver large scale energy assets and infrastructure, is critical to help navigate this challenging landscape. 

And we do it with a keen eye to our mandate, as careful stewards of taxpayers’ money, to crowd the market in, not crowd it out, and to pass on concessional interest rate savings to consumers. 

The success of big batteries 

Much is made of the headline commitments in a large climate investment vehicle such as the CEFC, however behind each commitment and targeted return are stories of impact and transition. One such story I want to share is the progress being made in large scale batteries – an enabling technology vital to our efforts to build a modern energy system and harness Australia’s abundant clean energy resources. 

Big batteries are changing the way we think about power systems and their economics. Their cost has fallen dramatically – since 2018, for 4 hour utility scale batteries, Bloomberg New Energy Finance reports the levelized cost of electricity has fallen by nearly 70 per cent. 

Since 2012, the CEFC has been a ‘first responder’ investor – first on the scene to back the emerging technology. Our work to help develop battery storage in Australia is a great example of the impact of our capital.  

We made our first investment in a standalone grid scale battery in late 2019 – a relatively small $50 million to help finance the expansion of the Hornsdale Power Reserve (HPR) in South Australia from 100 MW to 150 MW.  

The HPR has achieved many milestones since then: 

• 158 jobs during construction, generating more than $300 million in economic value to SA. 
• Hornsdale Community Benefit Fund has distributed some $1.1 million in grants to 247 local projects  
• The HPR has saved electricity consumers more than $150 million in its first two years by helping stabilise the grid, avoid price volatility, and reduce the risk of power blackouts.  
• The innovative revenue sharing structure that formed the basis of our finance has been a model for other investors. 37 big batteries have since been installed around the country, adding over 10 GWh storage capacity to the grid. 

As of a few weeks ago, that small amount of CEFC capital that has done so much, was repaid, with interest, to be reinvested in other clean energy projects. It’s just one example of the transformative nature of our finance.  

The opportunity of Distributed Energy Resources 

Another story I want to share is the increasing importance of the electricity consumer to the clean energy transition. Australia is a world-leading example of what happens when electricity consumers take control of their energy use through Distributed Energy Resources like rooftop solar and home batteries.  

Australia has added more than 115,000 rooftop solar systems in the first half of 2025, bringing the national total to more than 4.2 million installations. On a sunny day about 40 per cent of our homes generate their own power from solar PV.  

CEFC capital is helping finance this rollout, as well as the technology that supports customers, networks and network operators and helps the grid manage this two-way power flow for maximum benefit. 

So, we are backing the deployment of grid-strengthening technology through EcoJoule Energy and solar and battery automation with Amber Electric; helping unlock the benefits of clean energy for people who live in apartments through Energy Locals; and supporting the development of smart metering devices through Intellihub. 

There are many more such stories – the CEFC’s investment alumni offer plenty of good reading: 

• The number of loans under our $1 billion Household Energy Upgrades Fund doubled between the June and September quarters, up 126 per cent. And since the introduction of the Government’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program, the number of consumers taking out HEUF loans to finance batteries has increased 156 per cent. 
• Sydney based Climate tech innovators, MicroTau has successfully completed flight testing with the US Department of Defense which shows its unique sharkskin inspired film reduces drag to make aircraft more energy efficient for less fuel and emissions. 
• Toowoomba firm Swarmfarm Robotics is now hiring dozens of workers to meet unprecedented demand for its robots to help make farming more sustainable.  
• In February, manufacturing giant Orica marked the abatement of 1 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions using CEFC backed technology at its Kooragang Island Decarbonisation Project.  
• In April, the Blyth Battery began operating, in June construction began on the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone ahead of schedule and in July, Golden Plains Wind Farm began feeding 600 MW of clean electricity into the grid. 

Public levers of support  

We see a lot of private capital available for investment, and investors in the clean energy transition are not much different to those looking for opportunities in any market: they need the right IRR, strong market signals, consistent and coordinated regulation across the nation’s many jurisdictions, and a stable political environment with policies that pull in the same direction.   

When you look around the globe, much of this is missing. Australia has been on the front foot - to the envy of many international onlookers - to address these investor needs, including the expansion of the Capacity Investment Scheme, the Nelson Review of the NEM, the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, the $1.1 billion production incentive to develop a low carbon liquid fuels industry, as well as the announcement of an ambitious yet achievable national emissions target of a 62-70 per cent reduction against 2005 levels by 2035. 

And of course, the welcome announcement that the Australian Government will allocate a further $2 billion to the CEFC to accelerate the buildout of renewable energy. 

Pushing on to net zero emissions 

Since our inception in 2012, the CEFC has played a unique role as the world’s largest green bank in accelerating the clean energy transition. We aspire to be leaders; catalysts for change. We fulfil our mandate by crowding in private capital, rather than crowding it out.  

The paths that we once pioneered are smoother now, thanks to those who have followed.  

But we continue to push forward into new territory: whether it’s early backing for climate tech innovators, flexible finance for transmission and generation that clears the way for banks and institutional capital, strategic investments to support early adopters, or capital that helps prove up technology.   

As we continue to tackle each new challenge in the push to net zero, our investments will be guided by our experience, and guarded by the commercial rigour upon which we have built our success so far. 

Thank you