Martin Jones
@martincjones
🇦🇺/🇩🇪 climate change/energy economist and policy wonk; former academic (CEEM) and consumer advocate (CUAC); amateur footballer. Personal views. He/him.
Lmao incredible gall from my electricity retailer. Increases my annual bill by near 50%, tells me that's 30% worse than the regulated benchmark, yet assures me I'm still getting "a fair energy deal". Piss off, Flow Power.
My (very micro-level) recommendation to the ACT to achieve its climate targets is: stop your drivers taking the piss. Recently in inner Canberra looking to charge my EV, I found four bays with three EVs pretending to charge and a diesel 4WD. Two of the EVs had plugged in while already full!
The NSW Net Zero Commission has released its Annual Progress Report. 'NSW is cutting emissions but not fast enough. Under the latest projections, the gap to meeting the state's 2030 and 2035 emissions reduction targets has widened.' www.netzerocommission.nsw.gov.au/our-work-pro...
Interesting look at the recent four-day lull in wind that tested South Australia's high-renewables electricity system www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06...
"The project area must also include adjoining land where logging is reduced by at least 20%. There are also leakage clauses, providing penalties if logging of public forest increased elsewhere in the state on private or public land, or if there is an increase in imports of unsustainable timber."
I see. We can just add stuff up over 18 years without discounting now, can we? And still call ourselves economists?
Utterly bizarre to me that the Cwth Treasury, in 2026, would escalate historical prices using assumed inflation rather than observed inflation, which averaged 3.6% or 4.0% pa (depending on whether these are financial years or calendar years). I do not get it.
Research focused on two sectors: the built environment and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).
"Landmark German ruling declares Google's AI Overviews are Google's own words and makes it liable for false answers" the-decoder.com/landmark-ger...
"Majorities in most of the three dozen countries we’ve surveyed this year express an unfavorable view of Israel and little or no confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu." Median 25% favourable and 67% unfavourable amongst adults. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
"Wind and solar combined generated more electricity than gas globally in April for the first month ever, data analysed by UK-based think tank Ember showed" www.reuters.com/business/ene...
Related: 'KPMG modelling shows the post-pandemic asset boom disproportionately benefited the richest fifth of households, while median household wealth has been stuck around $700,000 since 2019-20. Only ~1/5th of households have the average wealth level, or higher.' www.theage.com.au/business/the...
"Many readers will have heard of the Hydrogen Ladder... Now, some of the same authors have produced the Electrification Staircase, which takes a deep dive into what can and should be electrified soon, and what remains speculative, even in [2040]." reneweconomy.com.au/from-cars-to...
Big fan of these income overview tables from the @grattaninstitute.bsky.social grattan.edu.au/news/grattan...
I'd prefer a longer time series, but this is suggestive. (And, y'know, consistent with basic economic theory...)
What effect has Victoria's free PT had on usage vs NSW? A survey of 2,000 people after one week suggests, 'not much'. "Victoria’s free PT may have helped at the margins, but it did not produce a markedly different outcome from states that did not intervene." theconversation.com/victoria-has...
"A regression slope of 2.9 indicates that, on average, a one-point increase in a climate fund’s Energy Transition Score — reflecting stronger financially material transition characteristics — was associated with approximately 2.9% higher annualized returns between 2022–2025."
I've only had it since Friday, but Copilot Clippy is massively giving me the shits. Get out of my margin!
"This early good news doesn’t mean the job is done. The 2025 targets were set to be achievable to ease industry into the system ... But the reprieve won’t last long. Targets will get harder and harder to meet. A car emitting just over the limit today will be significantly over it by 2028."
"The first results from the [NVES, Australia's] new fuel efficiency scheme tell an encouraging story: almost 70% of carmakers beat their fleet emissions targets. ... The scheme likely contributed to the first fall in transport emissions since COVID." theconversation.com/how-australi...
'Government spending increases inflation. Even government spending that decreases inflation actually increases inflation, just somewhere else.' Got it.
What to do with your solar system during a bushfire envirogroup.com.au/industry-new...
Important advice for e-bikes in very hot weather (like the current Victorian summer) cargocycles.com.au/news/electri...
"Major energy retailers have asked for more time to comply with rules forcing them to offer three hours of free daytime power, and warn the scheme needs more work to avoid disproportionately benefiting customers with batteries and electric cars" www.theage.com.au/business/con...
Top 10 countries with the biggest aviation emissions per passenger km
"First Nations people were also 10 times more likely to have force, or the threat of force used against them by police, while officers were 13 times more likely to use, or threaten to use tasers on those perceived to be Aboriginal." And similar results for people of African appearance.
"Research by the Centre Against Racial Profiling found people perceived by [Victorian] police to be Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander were 15x more likely to be searched than white people in 2024, but were less likely to be found with prohibited items" www.theage.com.au/politics/vic...