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Some of the country’s biggest industrial names are hit hardest as rising electricity costs and volatile commodity prices put their businesses at risk

When I began writing about economics at The Australian more than a decade ago, these pages were filled with optimism: the resource boom was in full swing, the phrase “miracle economy” still prevalent. If we had a problem it was a “two-speed” economy, and an Australian dollar that was almost as valuable as the greenback.

Ten years after the signing of the Paris climate accord, demand for coal is still growing — largely because of India and China — and shows no signs of peaking.

Victoria cannot rely on pulling more gas from Queensland to shore up an energy system pushed to the edge by a cascading set of breakdowns and concerns over the reliability of renewables, with the pipeline flowing south already at full capacity.

A Commonwealth review of three major policies that regulate the east coast gas market will consider any impact to Australia’s reputation as an investment destination while leaving the door open to unspecified government “initiatives” to boost domestic supply.

Britain’s Labour government has agreed to take a £17.8bn ($36.9bn) stake in building a nuclear power plant as fears rise that the country’s rush to build wind and solar farms is leaving the grid vulnerable to outages.

Shares of Lynas Rare Earths soared nearly 13% on Thursday to their strongest level in more than two years amid concerns over China’s export controls on rare earth elements.

Since early April, China has stopped almost all shipments of critical minerals that are needed for cars, robots, wind turbines, jet fighters and other technologies.

Article by Matthew Cranston, courtesy of  The Australian 03.06.2025 Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen in Perth on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images Federal government spending on climate change and net-zero policies

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