Energy

In the midst of Australia’s nuclear energy debate, New Zealand can redefine its economy through geothermal power. Overcoming technological skepticism is crucial for embracing AI and leveraging geothermal resources for economic growth.

Germany’s Green Party, led by Robert Habeck, faces backlash over ambitious heating system overhaul. Critics cite practical, financial, and environmental concerns, leading to widespread public skepticism and a decline in political support.

The Ukraine war has triggered an almighty political, social and economic catastrophe for Germany. It is not on the scale of a hot war, but the maximum havoc an enemy could inflict without military force.

In witnessing the first annual loss of RWE, we are watching the decline of a once great company. It has been brought down not by mismanagement but by political forces beyond its control. As such, it is a textbook example of political risk.

As economists are aware, regulating network industries is fiendishly difficult. No matter where you stand on the single-buyer model and whether it could be made to work, shocking markets and investors with populist proposals (provoking equally populist responses) is not the way to go about it.

To link the debate about the best market structure for the electricity sector to the question of executive pay makes one wonder how sincere the Greens really are about their proposals. Are they driven by the wish to develop and discuss good economic policy? Or is it only about scoring political points?

Australia is trying to return the budget to surplus, so a saving of $10 billion would be handy. But blinded by activism and without a sense of economic logic, Australia is bound to waste both money and energy.

The federal government’s plans to establish a Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) should be scrapped. As a commercially oriented company, it competes with private investors. As a company with a public mandate, it nevertheless aims to serve a public policy goal. These dual purposes are hard to reconcile.