Insights on Climate Technology and Energy Transition

In 2026, mandatory climate reporting, cheap midday power and fast-moving incentives reached Australian SMEs, mostly through their customers, tariffs and suppliers rather than new obligations. This paper sets out three commercial plays: Defend important accounts and claims, Save on energy and fuel, and Grow into transition markets. Three simple screens show where to look first; cash flow, risk and execution decide where to invest.

Companion paper to the ESG in Practice panel at The Business Show Australia, ICC Sydney, 26 November 2026. Current as at 9 October 2026.

Prefer to listen? This briefing is also available in GG Advisory Audio Briefings.

Nuclear fusion has progressed beyond a single scientific ignition milestone, but the challenge is now integrated net-electricity, reliability and economics. Natural hydrogen is demonstrably present underground, yet sustained commercial-rate production remains unproven. Concentrated solar power and thermal are already technically established in several configurations, but their competitiveness increasingly depends on the specific value of dispatchability, thermal storage and industrial heat.

This GG Advisory briefing examines the technologies through a common lens: what has actually been demonstrated, what remains unproven, and which evidence should matter to investors, project developers and energy-sector decision-makers.

Prefer to listen? This briefing is also available in GG Advisory Audio Briefings.

Australia’s wind and hydrogen opportunities are moving in different directions. Wind is the near-term infrastructure opportunity, constrained by grid, planning, logistics and social licence. Hydrogen remains strategically important, but the bankable opportunities are selective: derivatives, industrial offtake, flexible electrolysis and green metals rather than merchant hydrogen export. This GG Advisory point of view outlines where energy market players can enter, invest or partner — and which risks to test first.

Helping project owners, investors and technology ventures test energy, cost, resilience and emissions scenarios before capital is committed.

Most climate-tech founders who lose deals at due diligence are not losing them on the technology. They are losing them on the commercial story. This insight identifies the eight commercial readiness gaps that most commonly stall investment conversations — from conflating a technology narrative with a commercial one, to unvalidated customer demand, revenue model underspecification, unit economics that do not survive scrutiny, go-to-market gaps, risk frameworks that leave too much unstated, team capability, and competitive moat. For businesses whose commercialisation pathway runs through capital-intensive pilots, hardware, or first-of-a-kind industrial deployments, the insight covers the additional dimensions that matter: pilot versus commercial economics, first-of-a-kind risk, the path to bankability, capital architecture, the evidence hierarchy for demand signals, and the strategic value of an industrial partner as first buyer. The piece is grounded in the Australian climate-tech investment landscape, including the Safeguard Mechanism as a structural demand driver, the CEFC and ARENA capital stack, and the investor types founders are most likely to encounter at due diligence.