Tim Buckley was not impressed. After a scandalous article appeared in the financial press citing the Clean Energy Council’s apparent embrace of gas as a “transition fuel” Buckley, who bows to no fossil fuellers and is one of the transition industry’s most respected commentators, called it “bizarre”.
The move follows the departure of council’s long term chief executive Kane Thornton and it sounds like the two things are related.
According to an article in The AFR there was a “clear change in its communications” in the CEC.
“Gas is back baby,” it said, citing revised social media posts:
“Clean energy, backed by pumped hydro, batteries, and transitional gas, is the cheapest path forward for our electricity bills” … the group posted on LinkedIn last week, with a graphic.
“But this graphic first appeared in early March and had no mention of clean energy being backed by anything. It was created following CEC releasing a report finding the longer Australia relied on coal power and significant amounts of gas, the more energy bills would go up.
“In mid-April, the graphic was edited to include ‘backed by batteries and pumped hydro’. ‘Transitional gas’ was added 10 days later.”
The background is that late last year 36 companies showed up at the CEC’s annual general meeting to head off the takeover of the organisation by fossil fuel interests.
Nine News reporter and 2GB radio host Chris O’Keefe replaced Thornton.
This momentum by the gas industry is no surprise to renewable energy advocates.
The Fifth Estate contacted a source in the not-for-profit sector fighting the gas tycoons, who said the pressure to impede campaigns to get off gas was intense and only getting stronger.
“You have to have a lot of clout to take on the gas industry; they were watching everything we did and trying to counteract everything we did,” said the source who had now left the organisation and was no longer authorised to comment publicly.
They pointed to last year’s well flagged tactic by the gas industry to sponsor the popular television show MasterChef with host Andy Allen saying: “And I’m excited to say this year, MasterChef is going greener with renewable gas.”
The claim led Comms Declare founder Belinda Noble to lead a complaint to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
“It’s problematic because they have so much money behind it”, our source said. “They know that eventually gas will be phased out but anything the industry can do to keep it dribbling along, they will.”
Meanwhile Buckley said the organisation he leads, Climate Energy Finance is a “proud member and collaborator with the Smart Energy Council”
SEC “clearly avoids any such conflict of interest – a strong sustainable economy is going to be achieved by pivoting firmly and clearly towards renewables and zero emissions industries of the future” he said on his own social posts.
And in other news Origin says that consumers increasingly want to go electric but that two in five Aussies don’t know how to improve their homes’ energy efficiency.
The company’s new PropTrack Origin Australian Home Energy Report says that 40 per cent of Australians “are considering making the switch to all-electric homes (moving away from gas appliances).” Government incentives and subsidies are part of the attraction the company said.