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).
I am pleasantly surprised by this.
I thought Macquarie was a fully woke bank and irredeemable.
Nevertheless Macquarie and the other woke banks have still done tremendous damage to the Australian economy by not funding real energy and other useful projects.
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Is it just a coincidence that ex-Qld premier, lefty Anna Bligh, has just announced that she will retire as CEO of Australian Banking Association?
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Her family don’t cope well with mutiny.
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Must have got a miracle cure after she “retired” as Premier.
All those years ago.
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This is immensely good news, as it severs Australia’s direct lefty link to international banking cartels.
Henceforth, the ALP will be on the outer.
Thank you Trumpy.
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Finally waking up to the fact that Trump
will beat global warming with a “mighty big stick”!
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Trump is leading the counter-revolution. Everyone with at least two brain cells and a connecting synapse is joining in the fun. The Democrats and their left tard wokes’ heads are exploding
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It’s just the end of that subsidy train.
And theyal ways knew it would come. Trump has. Moved the date forward.
Now for the retreating scams. Ffirst in losess least.
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No, the Macquarie Bank Mob are smart operators. It’s a Merchant Bank and not a High Street Bank. Always have been which is why their share price is where it is. It was only around $10 in the year 2000. And is now nearly $240 today.
They like Mr. Trump are Deal Makers. They can see the writing on the wall and are now moving onto the next phase of business and growth. The Big Four Banks, not so.
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Those responsible for woke corporate policies like DEI, ESG and refusing to fund real energy projects which harm both the individuals they are supposedly meant to help (DEI) and companies, their shareholders and the economy at large, must not be allowed to go unpunished.
They should all be sacked (fired) and removed and, if possible, prosecuted if they haven’t shown due diligence as directors, CEOs etc.
The Left have got away with too much for too long. Make them squirm.
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We. Ow need some good news on the impending death of subsidies. Only then will we know the Climate Change hoax is soon to be buried for good, along with the conspirators who’ve championed it for 30 years!
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That’s the message Dutton should be delivering. Today.
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Jacinta, should your Mob get elected, then please look at the NDIS, Foreign Aid, Climate Change and the “Ruin A Balls” Rorts, etc, etc, etc.
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party, party, party
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Charles Mackay ‘men it as been well said, think in herds; it will be seen they go mad in herds while they only recover their senses slowly and one by one. Never a truer word said.
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The best aspect of this announcement is that it’s Macquarie. 2 reasons. Our SMSF bought shares in Macquarie a year ago. 2nd reason- wasn’t it the bank Malcolm Turnbull was employed at?
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Both Malcolm Turnbull and his son Alex worked for Goldman Sachs, not Macquarie, as far as I know.
And neither of them appear to be very intelligent. It makes you wonder the real reasons anyone would bother to employ them.
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Thanks DM- ever informative. At least I still have my first reason. 🙂
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You may have bought my Macquarie shares when I sold them because they were so woke.
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Macquarrie has a reputation for being faster than other banks about potential profits.
Obviously they see a chance for better times after Labor loses (and the incoming Govt. “realises the problems covered up” and ditches NetZero.
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I find it remarkable that Australia’s political “leadership”, including the alternative Prime Minister, Dutton, remain fanatically committed to Net Zero and the Paris Accords. Dutton even reaffirmed his commitment to Paris after TRUMP withdrew.
If Dutton was the leader we needed to prevent Australia collapsing to Second World or even Third World country status, he would say he will withdraw from Paris upfront and return Australia to its staus before fake conservative Howard started Australia on this disaster. Plus allow nuclear power if it’s an economical solution in a particular set of circumstances but let the free market decide whether it’s coal, gas, nuclear, real hydro or even Unicorn flatulence. No more subsidies.
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And if you’re wondering how fast a country can go from First World to Second or Third World status, look at Zimbabwe and South Africa.
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I’m guessing Dutton wants to fight a limited number of wars. He is all in on Nuclear and providing cheap, reliable energy. You and I know that could lead to new coal plants because the ALP will not allow nuclear. There are still many people who would vote for nuclear but are allergic to “carbon” so want a Net Zero future. These uneducated but brainwashed folk do believe that we must limit emissions but want cheap electricity. The next phase after the election, if he wins, is to educate the masses so that CO2 is seen as a beneficial gas. Trump’s actions in the US will be helpful.
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I wont bother to repost the information regarding the Dutton Coalition stand but in short;
* PM Morrison refused to sign the net zero agreement at Glasgow 2021.
* Opposition Leader Dutton has not remained “fanatically committed”.
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Dennis,
Morrison and Frydenberg adopted Net Zero policies in November 2021 for Australia — at the same time as the Glasgow conference. Isn’t that what matters?
They said they had to set a target of 2050 for Net Zero or otherwise the globalist bankers would charge Australia 1.5% higher interest rates.
Bankers bullied Australia into Net Zero
I will keep repeating this as my first example of how the bankers use their power to get around the voters. Morrison won the 2019 election partly by pointing out the costs of Net Zero, then he adopted that target despite the voters. This meant in the 2022 election he lost the right to mock the ridiculous Labor Net Zero targets, and the Liberals lost because they were just like Labor but less “good at it”.
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Furthermore, from the Financial Review Nov 14 2021
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The banks don’t want to give up on “carbon credits” . It a potential goldmine for them . When government policy dumps them the wind will change and they will decide to fund fossil fuels again. One glaring inconsistency I have noticed recently is the new service stations being built – I wonder who is financing them ?
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Aren’t new service stations (US = gas stations) being built because, at least in NSW it’s the law that they have to now sell taxpayer subsidised ethanol blended fuels and many don’t have room for extra tanks and thus go out of business?
It’s called the ethanol mandate. Not sure if it applies in other states.
https://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/Home/Industries/Transport/Ethanol
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Not in W.A.
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Seems silly to shut. The general public is always attracted to cheap (TCL and Chiq appliances, MG cars, Kogan, Temu etc) you would think they would just replace 91 with E10 and run with it, unless the ethanol content impacts on sorage and pumps.
Mmmm a good car forum topic, like oil, tyres and spark plugs.
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I will always stick to ULP91 with no ethanol.
E10 ethanol blend is around 1% cheaper but has 5% less energy, so you use more of it to cover the same distance.
In addition it absorbs moisture so can lead to accumulation of water in the tank – not good!
Ethanol is also harmful to some rubber seals and pipes so should be avoided for that alone.
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Ethanol in petrol is one of the more stupid ideas to come out of government although it is competing with thousands of other dumb ideas.
Years ago in Wollongong a certain starch manufacturer had large amounts of ethanol as waste product of the starch manufacture. Got the bright idea to sell it for adding to petrol in Wollongong (remember it cost to store and was waste). Worked OK until some servos got up to 20% which was twice the permitted amount.
The whole thing stopped. Someone asked the manufacturer why not sell it in Sydney just 100km up the road? Not worth the expense to ship was the answer. Some time later the starch manufacturer had an unfortunate fire which burned all the waste ethanol.
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I once put E10 in my car – not an old car so it was supposed to be OK. The car failed to get up the first hill. Never again.
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In 2008 I filled my boat fuel tank that holds 160 litres of petrol with 90 litres of E10 in error at a service station and thought no more about it.
As I was moving interstate I forgot and after towing the boat and trailer to my new home I booked it in for a full service but somehow the mechanic did not detect serious problems that I discovered on the water a week later, after navigating a long 4 knot zone after launching I opened the throttle and quickly the engine (Honda 130 4-stroke) started backfiring and cutting out. I retuned to the boat ramp at low speed and returned the boat to the service centre where they found seals and tubes coming apart and the fuel pump damaged.
The fuel in the tank before I refilled was premium unleaded.
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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 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.
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Yes, a minority Labor Government that’s forced to form a coalition with Greens and Teals would be far, far worse than a Labor majority Government because as hard as it is to believe, Greens and Teals are even more extreme lunatic Left than Labor.
A minority Labor Government with Greens/Teals would rapidly complete the final destruction of Australia. At least a fake conservative Liberal Government would buy a bit of time.
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Would the government change rules again to the benefit of wind/solar?
Something like giving them first preference so that nuclear just takes up the slack?
The only thing I trust governments to do is to stuff up anything they get involved in.
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Not just for Australia but many places also where Net Zero policies are being shelved or abandoned by companies (& governments) who were previously keen on them, largely because the monies aren’t flowing (despite gullibles like Millibrain in the UK and Blackout here). The election of Trump has dried up any money for off-shore wind in the Gulf of America and along the North East Coast. There may be some crazy Democrats in power on the West Coast but they have run their States into bankruptcy, so no moolah for the developers.
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I agree, net zero is officially dead under Trump and it’s only a matter of time before all banks pull out of that alliance. But Trump is only the last last straw. Net Zero was always going to die because almost all of the developing world have chosen FF as their primary energy source for future expansion as the RE solutions are neither technically nor economically viable. Ironically, it’s actually the climate alarmist community themselves that killed off net zero by mandating RE. If they went with nuclear it probably would have worked and the developing world would be rolling out SMRs instead of building hundreds of coal plants each year.
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“The senior banking analyst is baffled after Macquarie spent years pumping up renewables”
Maybe they are just showing the ability to learn and adapt. Or maybe they are just reading the room as so called “renewables” are staggering around the world, are dead in the US and have failed after decades and billions to deliver a “renewably” powered 1st world economy.
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So if the Democrats were to win the next election how do you stop them from overturning Trumps energy and climate mandates?
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They can’t win elections without cheating. One of the side effects of cheating in 2020 was that they went all out and failed at everything so badly that they don’t have any political capital left.
The more Trump succeeds the more difficult it will be for them to climb back in the saddle. Plus their allies around the world are also failing.
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The slow march through the institutions has been found wanting. Those in charge now, especially with DEI, are so obviously incompetent that it has become very noticeable. People are also being hit in the hip pocket and this is a rude awakener. Around the world “Merit” is being recognized again and conservatives are taking back control.
The rise of alternative media is aiding this awakening no wonder the left leaning authorities that are still left are desperately trying to control it. Mis/Disinformation, hate speech anyone?
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So if it’s all been a cynical money/power play, I certainly have come to believe that, then the coming of Trump spells the failure of the power play.
And the money just follows.
The sad and truly vicious thing is the manipulation of the true believers (from childhood) left without the religion in which they were so thoroughly indoctrinated.
The money and the propaganda machine just moves on without reconciliation and a large swath of the population is left confused.
The financial loss of this decades long scheme (which we get the pleasure of paying for in going as we payed in the coming) is one thing … the loss of faith and bond with leadership is another.
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Ethanol in petrol is one of the more stupid ideas to come out of government although it is competing with thousands of other dumb ideas.
Years ago in Wollongong a certain starch manufacturer had large amounts of ethanol as waste product of the starch manufacture. Got the bright idea to sell it for adding to petrol in Wollongong (remember it cost to store and was waste). Worked OK until some servos got up to 20% which was twice the permitted amount.
The whole thing stopped. Someone asked the manufacturer why not sell it in Sydney just 100km up the road? Not worth the expense to ship was the answer. Some time later the starch manufacturer had an unfortunate fire which burned all the waste ethanol.
It is all a scam.
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It is all a scam.
Perhaps like regional recycling of plastic “waste”?
Not worth the expense to ship was the answer.
Are the aluminium cans crushed before shipping to the central (ie urban) processing centers? Might lower shipping costs.
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To be fair, this is the predatorial class. They could care less about rationale, morals, science, religion, motives. If Net Zero is where the money needs to be, that’s where they are. Weapons in war, taxes in peace, windmills when they are popular. Park your riches with them and they will be safe. Swiss Banks are infamous.
And they LOVE credits, certificates, tradeable tokens on which they can take a percentage for doing nothing but shuffling.
All the talk about right and wrong and moral rectitude and debt to society or humanity is silly. Behind every ruthless tyrant is a banking system. And behind every defender of the faith. They don’t have to laugh all the way to the bank. They are the bank, rulers of the universe and by the way, do no work at all. Risk? Heads up, they win. Tails up, you lose.
We need them. They need us. And they try to stay ahead of the next wave.
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Yes Tdef very well said
“Behind every ruthless tyrant is a banking system. And behind every defender of the faith. They don’t have to laugh all the way to the bank. They are the bank ………”
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After four years of Biden, Guetterres, the WEF, the EU, Climate Activists and this government, EVERYONE, much to the NZBA’s chagrin, has learned to speak Weasel.
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Again, the world has been blessed with the Second Coming of TRUMP.
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As an American I can tell you that had Trump not won, it wouldn’t have been just America that had a problem. Economically we have huge issues to deal with especially our debt.
God Bless Trump and his cohorts
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We sold a house recently and put the residue into a fund for my wife (it was her house) my financial advisor was planning to use a Macquarie vehicle for the investment and I questioned that because of their NZ policies – however, as they are only managing the fund and we chose the actual investments – we went ahead with it. So happy to see this turn around. now if only NAB would do the same I will be even happier.
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It’s happening at last: “The Collapse of Net Zero: Profiting from the Implosion of the Green Bubble”
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2025/02/12/the-collapse-of-net-zero-profiting-from-the-implosion-of-the-green-bubble/#more-360603
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It not just that Net Zero is not achievable. The goal of net zero is not achievable. CO2 emissions are irrelevant to atmospheric CO2.
And emissions are NOT the alleged problem. Total CO2 is the alleged problem.
Co2 goes into and out of the water in huge volumes like O2. It’s a huge dynamic exchange of gases, as in your lungs with every breath you take. Into and out of the sea water in your lungs.
The 36 papers in Table 1 all agree with a half life around 5 years (residence time, adjustment time,..) for all CO2 in the atmosphere.
So 50% of all CO2 goes into and out of the ocean every 5 years, so 10% a year goes into the water. And human ’emissions’ have just reached 1% of atmospheric CO2. Basically human emissions are tiny in the grand scale of the massive exchagne equilibrium which keeps atmospheric CO2 constant within 1% from pole to pole.
And what impact have 500,000 giant windmills and billions of solar panels had on the slow steady growth of total CO2?
Zero.
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Apparently, on the flip side, a “critical mass” of big business energy flakes has published an open letter in today’s papers targeting their competition… I mean, boosting for “real” zero:
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Gosh, I wonder if the CEO of Fortescue, and his cadre of “respected industry, business and community leaders” have a vested interest in Big Green, such as expensive, unreliable power production and “academic” “research”?
And in standard Lefist style they state the opposite of the truth by saying fossil fuel projects are subsidised, when it’s “green” projects which are subsidised. Without subsidies green projects would go out of business overnight.
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Twiggy must have spent all the Grant monies he received…
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Gee, Twiggy must have spent all of his grant moneys….
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The politics in AU seem to be a spectator sport, and that is truly a shame.
All ought to realize that the insanity in AU is ‘allowed’ by the populace.
Time to require that the Govt actually be responsible to the People, unless , of course, the People are so wildly incompetent that the present Govt does, indeed, reflect the will of the incompetent.
I’ve always loved Australians in principle. But their elected government, not so much.
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Wouldn’t it be wonderful if one of our braindead energy companies did the same. I am not holding my breath though. <:o)
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Was half interested in a Tesla power wall pop ad on a website. Had a quick look. You know they’e still claiming that by signing up you will “help to save the planet”. How is that not a breach of truth in adverting rules?
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Fingers crossed this bill might get somewhere: https://www.nzfirst.nz/nzf-introduces-bill-to-fight-woke-banks
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Just watched a video on X of the new US EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin. He was doing an introductory type presentation and affirming the need for his agency to stop wasting money. Then went on to describe how the EPA in the lead up to Trump’s inauguration, managed to offload $20b (yes, b not m) into some external financial institutions. (monetary hidey holes) Lee described them as gold bars being tossed from the Titanic. One entity called “Climate United Fund” was given $7b alone. So, maybe the gig is up for these banks as well, there wont be as much Green $ sloshing around being wasted.
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Only recently found this blog, I thought it was about science ??
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It is primarily, but if you mix science with politics you end up with politics anyway. So, Jo is very versatile.
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