Whether it is gold, wool, timber, apples, salt, education, beef or even sea cucumbers, Australia has long punched above its weight in the trade stakes, even centuries before it was named Australia.
It wasn’t until Lang Hancock found a red, magnetic rock in WA’s Pilbara in the 1950s however that the nation became a global trade superpower.
That discovery gave rise to iron ore mining behemoths Rio Tinto and BHP.
More recently, Fortescue Metals Group got in on the Pilbara iron ore action and is now also a major exporting powerhouse.
Australia is undoubtedly an international mineral juggernaut, however it now finds itself on the crest of another wave that could even surpass the one started all those years ago by Hancock – the green energy revolution.
China’s rise fuelled insatiable demand for iron ore, a world increasingly concerned about coal saw transitional hope in natural gas and the Tesla-led EV revolution saw lithium become a juggernaut business opportunity for well-endowed Australian mining industry entrepreneurs.
Today change is afoot again.
Australia, and particularly Western Australia, is blessed with everything it needs to become a global green energy super-power. It has an abundance of sun, wind, gas and now lithium and all of its related battery metals.
Whilst politicians and media the world over bicker over the merits of the great climate change debate, industry has made its mind up.
Fuelled by investor sentiment and economic benefit, global firms from automakers to rock miners are moving rapidly into the clean energy future.
And influential international conservation organization, The World Wide Fund for Nature, or “WWF” believes it is this green energy revolution that presents the next great economic opportunity for Australia.
The nation is blessed with bountiful open space famed for its endless sunshine, picturesque yet turbulent seas and abundant wind. These elements are a source of national pride.
They are also elements that, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s integrated system plan could be the backbone for a $320bn energy generation, transmission and storage industry if harnessed correctly.
To put some perspective to that figure, Australia’s iron ore industry was worth about $133bn in 2021-22.
The Clean Energy Investment Group, or “CEIG” argues these natural elements could also drive renewable-powered hydrogen, critical minerals and green metals industries, in addition to manufacturing, education and services.
In an investment climate increasingly conscious of emissions, Australia’s natural advantage could prove a lucrative money spinner with the right policies in place.
To reach the summit of the renewable energy mountain and enjoy the ensuing spoils, the CIEG says investment would have to rise an astronomical 700 per cent above the current National Energy Market outlay and be backed by strong government policy, job creation and future industry thinking.
Whilst some continue to argue figures like that are unachievable, some plucky Australian companies have already managed to latch onto the green energy train.
Amongst the vanguard of companies to do so is Melbourne-based Envirostream, a subsidiary of ASX-listed Lithium Australia.
The company was among a host of green shoots highlighted by WWF as examples of what Australia is doing to build out an end-to-end clean energy industry.
Envirostream recycles batteries to recover metals such as cobalt and lithium that it then sells into South Korea.
Steel is also recovered and sold to local foundries and plastic recovery is being tested for use in plastic asphalt roads.
The company is the first to do so locally and today has collection points at major retailers in every state and territory.
Envirostream was in 2021 granted a 99-year lease by the Victorian Government to process more than 500t of specific electronic waste a year and in November this year penned a deal with LG Energy Systems to process at least 250t of lithium-ion batteries.
Whilst battery use is booming courtesy of the extraordinary uptake of electric vehicles and home energy storage, Australia still only recycles just 10 per cent of its used batteries – a figure that will no doubt not be lost of the growing army of green energy entrepreneurs and one that sits at the centre of Envirostream’s business model.
Envirostream General Manager- Operations Jocelyn Foong said "when we started collecting, we realised how many issues and challenges there were for safe storage and transportation of used batteries.”
“When there’s no collection, there’s no recycling.”
WWF’s latest renewable scorecard report comes on the back of a seismic shift in policy following a changing of the guard in Canberra.
The WWF found there was strong interest from policymakers across the nation to improve clean energy policy and invest in industries such as hydrogen.
On the flipside, challenges remain in the development of clear renewable export strategies, precincts, environmental protection and recycling of renewable technology.
On recycling, the WWF was particularly clear; Australia needs to lift its game.
Solar panel end-of-life is also a problem according to the WWF.
Adelaide-based recycler ReclaimPV which repurposes solar panels by either breaking them down to raw materials or supplying them as a low-cost option to energy poverty-hit communities is another plucky Australian company that has its foot on a piece of the green energy revolution.
Founder Clive Fleming said “recovered materials are on-sold, as locally as possible, to provide high-value materials such as aluminium to local manufacturing with a much smaller carbon footprint than before.”
“This flows on to lower embodied carbon in the next product that’s made.”
The European Environment Agency says 95 per cent of solar panels, 90 per cent of wind turbines and 100 per cent of energy storage can be recycled.
WWF says governments need to adopt a circular economy approach to ensure these products don’t end up in landfill.
The benefits of such a circular economy – self-reliance, economic diversification, value-adding, reducing waste – are clear, as is the interest from industry and innovators to go down this path.
Whether Australia can realise its lofty renewables superpower ambition rests largely in the hands of policymakers – and small companies that are doing big things.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
