By Jo Nova
If it was the end of a Big Green Bubble, it would look a lot like this…
Australia is still launching itself to Net Zero Land at the top of the Magic Faraway Tree. There was no election in Australia, and no change to the green policies. Yet, a month after the US banks quietly peeled themselves away from the Globalist Banker Blob, the first Australian bank starts backing away slowly too. They don’t explain why in any convincing fashion. Have they just lost the faith that renewables are going to work, or is this just the end of the subsidy train with the collapse of the USAID grift and graft?
Banks must hold firm on net zero
Kyle Robertson, Senior banking analyst, Australian Financial Review
This decision by Macquarie makes little sense, prioritising political expediency and short-term financial interests over the longer-term viability of its business and the economy.
Macquarie Bank has sent shockwaves around the world by quietly announcing it has quit the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) this week, taking the dubious honour of being the first major Australian financial institution to pull out of a global climate initiative.
The senior banking analyst is baffled after Macquarie spent years pumping up renewables:
It is hard to understand this sudden backslide after Macquarie spent years building up its reputation as a green bank. Macquarie chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake has been a feature of global climate conferences for years, promoting the need for large-scale public and private sector investment into renewable energy and climate adaptation initiatives.
The CEO was even recognized as “Time’s 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders in Business for 2023” ferrgoodnesssake!
Yet look at the power of bully bankers…
Robertson speaks in approving tones about the Australian bankers that are hobbling law abiding companies from providing a service consenting adults want to pay for.
ANZ and Westpac are still using corporate finance and bonds to finance companies expanding oil and gas. In contrast, the country’s largest bank, Commonwealth Bank, has ended finance for oil and gas producers without a credible Paris-aligned transition plan. At its 2024 AGM, NAB chairman Philip Chronican indicated that by October this year, the bank would end finance for companies pursuing oil and gas field expansion.
Who voted for the bankers to set Australian energy policy anyway?
If fossil fuels are so awful Robertson (or the bankers) could always try persuading people not to use them. Until then Australians allow the bankers to hold banking licences and make squillions of dollars in profits. But in a free market, a new banker could turn up and offer loans to all the unfashionable fossil fuel companies that the precious banker club eschew. Instead, citizens pay for regulatory watchdogs and police that protect these smug banker bullies against newcomers and competition.
Shh — it’s just a moment of backsliding
The announcement was made in muted tones, probably printed in grey ink, and filled with soothing words about how boring and normal it was to adjust the settings. Since Macquarie is still a significant investor in renewables projects — it probably doesn’t want to crash renewable share prices, and the CEO and the board don’t want to actually rub salt into the wounds of Labor Party policies either. So unlike the fanfare when the bankers united, the dissolution of the same banker club will be dressed up to look as boring as possible.
Does anyone believe this rot? Net Zero is all sorted now so they can step back “like many others” have?
“The NZBA helped develop global frameworks and assisted member banks as they established their initial decarbonisation plans. With those building blocks now in place, like many peers Macquarie will no longer be a member of NZBA, as we focus on updating and delivering our plans and reporting in line with regulatory requirements,” Macquarie said in a statement. — The Australian
Only the occasional “shock” from a die hard believer bank analyst gives away what a radical change in direction this is.
Macquarie said it would provide a further update on its net zero ambitions in May (probably right after the election).
PS: Yet again we see how The US Government de facto sets the policies of so many other nations all around the world.
UPDATE: Commenter Serge Wright #9 — Nuclear power in Australia will hurt renewables
Their move is all about monetary sustainability and it’s probably partly due to Dutton’s nuclear plan, which will have a big impact on the viability of RE [Renewable Energy] projects. If a nuclear plant goes into service it would be classed as clean energy and it would therefore be able to bid 24/7, forcing wind and solar to dump more excess energy at midday and also reducing the huge price spikes at peak periods that RE relies on to make profits. Just this policy being on the table is enough to scare away RE investment and it’s probably no coincidence that all of the offshore wind and green hydrogen projects have evaporated since the nuclear plan was put forward.
The decision by Macquarie is interesting because it’s happened before the election which is probably our most significant from a RE and CC perspective. A Dutton win would obviously be bad for RE, but a minority Labor win would be a disaster in the opposite direction with the Greens and Teals possibly legislating complete bans on all FF projects and energy sources. In the latter scenario there would be a huge short term influx of borrowed taxpayer money being pumped into the RE industry but followed by a collapse in the economy as the energy system and energy exports collapsed. I would expect the banks to pull out of the Net Zero alliance only after a Dutton win because there is some short term opportunity here in a minority Labor government. But perhaps Macquarie has realised that with Trump in office, Net Zero is dead anyway and a Dutton win would open up more FF export and gas projects as well as funding for the nuclear plants if they get legs.
The Trump win makes a conservative win (and nuclear power) more likely to happen in the next Australian election (due before the end of May).