ESG Snapshot: Issue 111

This week's highlights include:

• Bioenergy. The federal government is consulting on a feedstock strategy for bioenergy.
• New ARENA strategy. ARENA has an updated General Funding Strategy.
• Fries, sugar, and vitamins. Two food companies and a health supplements business are the latest beneficiaries of ARENA grants.
• Water decrease. Victoria will experience a significant decrease in annual runoff and water resources by 2060, says a new study.
• New firming tender. The NSW government is inviting tenders for more electricity infrastructure.
• Beetaloo underwriting. The NT government is underwriting a loan for a Beetaloo gas pilot project.
• Shareholder backing. AGL's climate transition action plan has received significant support, at the company's AGM (company news).
• Arnie and the Pope. Pope Leo XIV and Arnold Schwarzenegger have called for strong climate action, at a major climate conference (international news).

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Consultation opportunity - bioenergy feedstock strategy. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry has released a discussion paper on a national bioenergy feedstock strategy.

The paper says much of Australia's potential feedstock - such as canola, cottonseed, tallow, sugar and sorghum - is currently exported in high volumes.

"The establishment of domestic processing would open up new market opportunities for these feedstocks, providing an opportunity to add value on-shore," it says.

"Bioenergy – including renewable or low carbon liquid fuels (LCLF), low carbon gases and solid biofuels – will be a critical factor in Australia's net zero transition," the paper says. 

"Expanding the use of these fossil fuel alternatives will enable the decarbonisation of aviation, heavy freight, maritime, mining and some industrial processes," it says. 

Comments are due by 7 November.

Transcript is now available of two hearings conducted by a Senate committee inquiry into information integrity on climate and energy.

The Productivity Commission has released 152 submissions made in response to its net zero interim report:

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has gazetted a revised funding strategy for ARENA for the next two financial years. It specifies that ARENA's strategic priorities for this period are to:

• Unlock ultra low-cost solar. 
• Optimise the transition to renewable electricity.
• Commercialise renewable hydrogen. 
• Support the transition to low emissions metals. 
• Decarbonise transport.

ARENA has awarded grants totalling more than $12 million to three manufacturers to demonstrate low emission technologies for process heat, that reduce the reliance on fossil gas.

McCain Foods will use its $7.38 million funding under ARENA's Industrial Transformation Stream (ITS) to implement two interconnected heat recovery systems at its Ballarat potato processing site.

The first system will recover high-temperature heat from condensate to decrease boiler demand, and the second will capture lower temperature fryer exhaust heat and use it to produce hot water, which will then be upgraded to steam using an electrically driven mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) system.

The proposed systems are expected to lower the site's fossil gas boiler load by 22%.

Sugar Australia will use its $4.1 million National Industrial Transformation (NIT) grant for a project at its Yarraville sugar refinery that will replace traditional fossil gas evaporators with an electrically driven MVR system. 

Blackmores will receive $723,900 through the NIT scheme to replace a boiler at its Braeside manufacturing facility with a high-efficiency heat pump and a hot water buffer tank.

The project is expected to cut the Braeside facility's fossil gas consumption by about 25%.

The CEFC has invested $7 million in a Series B capital raise by SwarmFarm Robotics, to accelerate the rollout of lightweight, self-driving 'SwarmBots' - precision robots that reduce herbicide use by up to 95% and cut fuel-related emissions by 35%.

The autonomous robot technology enables precision weed control spraying and supports “no till” agriculture - which preserve soil structure and moisture.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has published an update to the 2025 Electricity Statement of Opportunities (ESOO), which provides a 10-year reliability outlook for the National Electricity Market.

The update takes into account the delayed retirement of three units (600MW) at the Torrens Island B Power Station in South Australia from 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2028, and the earlier potential closure of the 1,1680MW Gladstone power station in Queensland, from 2035 to 31 March 2029.

Ahead of a Board meeting tomorrow, the Australian Accounting Standards Board has released an information paper on climate-related information disclosures and proposed amendments to IFRS S2/AASB S2.

Meanwhile, the Monash Business School and Purpose Bureau have released a new report on Understanding the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards Reporting Universe.

Consultation opportunity - E3 coverage of heat pump hot water heaters. DCCEEW has issued a Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (CRIS) on the merits of regulating heat pump hot water heater under the E3 energy rating and labelling scheme.

Comments are due by 31 October.

The Department of Industry Science and Resources has released a request for tender (RFT) on AusTender for a lead contractor to deliver phase 2 of the Northern Endeavour decommissioning program.

Phase 2 includes permanently plugging and abandoning 9 wells in the Laminaria and Corallina oil fields.

Submissions close 1 December.

The Australian Industry Greenhouse Network has released its latest annual report.

EPBC developments:

• DCCEEW has released the referral for Origin Energy's proposed 608MW Northern Tablelands wind farm and battery system, to be built near Armidale in the New England Renewable Energy Zone.
• DCCEEW has released the referral for Samsung C&T's proposed 300MW solar farm and battery system near Dunmore, in Queensland.

Open consultations:

• Offshore decommissioning. The federal government is consulting on progress by the Offshore Decommissioning Directorate in implementing Australia's offshore resources decommissioning roadmap. Comments are due by 24 October.

The most feasible short-term approach to starting the decarbonisation of commercial shipping is new wind technologies, says Andrew Dickson, in the latest Track Changes pod (Spotify, Apple, YouTube).

The state government has announced new board appointments to CleanCo a new Chair, Susan Rix), CS Energy, Energy Queensland, Powerlink, the Port of Townsville (six appointments), North Queensland Bulk Ports (four new appointments), and SunWater.

Queensland's Coordinator-General has released Terms of Reference for the Environmental Impact Statement for Graphinex's proposed $664 million Esmeralda open-cut graphite mine and processing facilities.

NSW's latest electricity infrastructure tender is seeking to secure about 500MW of additional firming and/or demand response capacity from projects that can support reliability in the Sydney-Newcastle-Wollongong region.

Projects must be able to achieve commercial operations before November 2027, with batteries, gas generation, demand response, and aggregated portfolios of smaller batteries eligible to participate.

By the end of the year, another 42 Northern Rivers flood-affected properties will be offered for auction under NSW's $880 million Resilient Homes Program, for relocation by the new owners to flood-free land.

The state government has so far auctioned 83 properties under the scheme.

The office of the NSW Independent Biosecurity Commissioner has released its FY25 annual report.

Commercial and industrial businesses that install rooftop solar systems of between 30 and 200 kilowatts will now be eligible for discounts worth up to $34,300 through the Victorian Energy Upgrade scheme.

The state government has released a new report on Victoria's water resources under a changing climate.

"Victoria's warming and drying climate has resulted in less water in rivers, streams, dams, and groundwater, as well as a greater risk of droughts, floods, fires and heatwaves," the report says.

"As the climate changes, increasing water demand and decreasing supply in Victoria’s variable hydroclimate is challenging for water managers."

The report concludes:

• mean annual runoff and water resources averaged across Victoria will likely decrease by about 25% by 2060, relative to 1976–2005.
• cool season rainfall in the state has continued to decline, while severe rain events throughout the year have become more frequent.
• droughts in Victoria are likely to become longer, more frequent and more intense.

The state government has started releasing more precise flood maps that provides risk ratings ranging from 'low' to 'very high'.

The state government will also introduce new planning and building controls that distinguish between very high-risk areas where development must be avoided, high-risk areas where development warrants careful assessment, moderate-risk areas where projects will need to include the right safeguards, and low-risk areas.

The changes will enable catchment management authorities to lead flood modelling and community engagement, which will reduce costs for local councils, the state government says.

Tasmania's EPA has expanded environmental monitoring and health risk assessments at locations in and around Lutana, near the Nyrstar smelter, as well as nearby Eastern Shore locations, which are near the MMG base metal mine.

The NT government has agreed to underwrite $75 million of a $180 million loan to Tamboran Resources and its partner to develop their Beetaloo Basin pilot gas project.

The Territory government will also purchase the first supplies from Beetaloo, securing up to 40TJ/day from Tamboran, and up to 25TJ/day from Beetaloo Energy Australia.

New listings are in blue.

An advisory shareholder vote on AGL's Climate Action Transition Plan passed with 69.2% support, at last Friday's AGM.

AGL's Chair Miles George told the AGM that the energy company's decarbonisation strategy, which includes an ambition to supply customers with 12GW of new generation and firming by the end of 2035, "requires year-on-year delivery and execution, and ongoing investment".

"We first set this strategy three years ago, and since this time, we have deployed or committed over $3 billion towards our decarbonisation strategy," George said.

"AGL's development pipeline has also tripled from 3.2GW to 9.6GW over the last three years. In FY25 alone, we deployed approximately $900 million towards battery developments and strategic investments," he said.

Amplitude Energy has released its latest sustainability report.

Investors with more than $1 trillion assets under management have sent a letter to Norway's Financial Supervisory Authority, asking it to review Equinor's climate disclosures, expressing concerns that the company's claims of alignment with the Paris Agreement and a 1.5°C pathway may be misleading.

China has released a progress report on its national carbon market.

Video of key moments from a climate justice conference in the Vatican, marking the tenth anniversary of the Laudato Si social justice and ecological Papal encyclical, is now available.

Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks from 32 minutes, talking of the need to "terminate pollution", and describing Pope Leo XIV as an "action hero" on climate change.

At 52 minutes, Pope Leo XIV starts his speech, noting that "some have chosen to deride the increasingly evident signs of climate change ... and even to blame the poor for the very thing that affects them the most".

"We inhabit the same planet, and we must care for it together", the Pope said. "The most effective solutions will not come from individual efforts alone, but above all from major political decisions on the national and international levels".

"Everyone in society ... must put pressure on governments to develop and implement more rigorous regulations, procedures and controls."

"There is no room for indifference or resignation."

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