{"id":530484,"date":"2026-03-10T06:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/530484\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T06:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:44:08","slug":"a-tidal-wave-of-hostile-messaging-the-billions-spent-each-year-by-fossil-fuel-industry-demonising-renewables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/530484\/","title":{"rendered":"“A tidal wave of hostile messaging:” The billions spent each year by fossil fuel industry demonising renewables"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head of energy policy in the world\u2019s fourth biggest economy says the fossil fuel industry is spending billions of dollars each year promoting its own technologies and demonising renewables, far more than the wind, solar and battery storage industries combined.<\/p>\n

David Hochschild, the chair of the California Energy Commission, who leads energy policy in the world\u2019s fourth biggest economy, says the renewables industry needs to learn how to stand and fight against the more than $US4 billion ($A5.7 billion) spent each year by the fossil fuel industry on communications and public affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolar is the single biggest investment on the global electric grid annually,\u201d Hothschild told a Climate Week event in Sydney on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in excess of half a trillion dollars, and we\u2019re just getting started. The prices are still coming down. We\u2019re going to win, but we want to win fast, and so I think we have to push back against a tidal wave of hostile messaging coming at us. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I just got this statistic a few weeks ago in the United States, the fossil fuel industry budget for Communications and Public Affairs is $US4 billion a year. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire renewable energy industry is $US150 million okay \u2026 we\u2019re getting outspent like 27 to one \u2026 And so we have a lot of work just to get the message out about the basic facts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hothschild says the fossil fuel industry is desperately fighting for its existence, and cited the extraordinary progress of solar and battery storage \u2013 including in Australia \u2013 as a prime example.<\/p>\n

Bowen had said earlier that Australian had taken 10 years to put in the first six gigawatt-hours of household storage, and eight months to put in the second six gigawatt-hours of household storage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hothschild cited similar accelerations in China.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2004 it took a year to build a gigawatt of solar. In 2010 it took a month globally to build a gigawatt of solar. In 2016 it took a week, in 2023 it took a day and in 2024 it took half a day. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now solar is the single biggest investment on the global electric grid annually. It\u2019s in excess of half a trillion dollars, and we\u2019re just getting started. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no precedent in history, in the entire energy industry, for what\u2019s happening now, which is the rate of growth for solutions is so fast, and so it actually is possible to make a transition quickly and affordably. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I would highlight what\u2019s going on right now is that fossil fuel prices across the world are spiking because it\u2019s war. So we can do a lot to advance climate solutions and to insulate consumers from high prices. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think that the message that this is good for the planet and it\u2019s good for the pocketbook, we have to get that out far and wide, and you have a great story to tell, because this transition that\u2019s happening now is so fast and so successful, I think it\u2019s actually the perfect place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hothschild said the US clean energy and climate sector had taken a hit under the Trump administration, but had not stalled, and he compared it to a \u201cpolitical COVID-19\u201d pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has hit us all really hard,\u201d he said. \u201cBut also we are going to make it through this, as we made it through COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said reality was also catching up with the administration as it grappled with the massive energy needs of a fast-growing data centre sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolar and batteries were much faster to build than fossil-fuel plants,\u201d Hochschild said. \u201cYou want to build a new natural gas power plant United States? That\u2019s seven years.<\/p>\n

Hothschild is also spruiking AusTestBed, the Australian pilot of a Californian scheme credited with attracting nearly $500 million in investment into the US state.<\/p>\n

The trial, which would ideally attract federal support to expand, would remove the cost of testing promising technology in laboratory equipment, providing startups with hard data to take to investors.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might have an entrepreneur with a great idea, but they don\u2019t have the resources, Mr Hochschild told AAP.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou end up leaving a lot of good ideas on the sideline.\u201d<\/p>\n

AAP also contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

If you wish to support independent media, and accurate information, please consider making a one off donation or becoming a regular supporter of Renew Economy. Please click here. Your support is invaluable.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor-in-chief of Renew Economy<\/a>, and founder and editor of its EV-focused sister site The Driven<\/a>. He is the co-host of the weekly Energy Insiders Podcast<\/a>. Giles has been a journalist for more than 40 years and is a former deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review. You can find him on LinkedIn and on Twitter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of energy policy in the world\u2019s fourth biggest economy says the fossil fuel industry is spending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-530484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}