Latest news with #Forrest-led
Sydney Morning Herald
24-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Trump kills Twiggy Forrest's US green hydrogen dream
Australian billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest has terminated a major hydrogen project in the United States as Donald Trump slashes tax breaks for clean energy investments and guts programs aimed at tackling climate change. The Forrest-led Fortescue Metals Group on Thursday said it would not proceed with a $US550 million ($830 million) plan to begin producing zero-emissions hydrogen at a new plant in Arizona, blaming the 'shift in priorities away from green energy' under the Trump administration. 'The lack of certainty and step-back in green ambition has stopped the emerging green energy markets, making it hard for previously feasible projects to proceed,' Fortescue head of growth and energy Gus Pichot said. 'As a result, we cannot proceed with our investments as they stand, and will explore future opportunities for our site in Arizona.' Since returning to the White House, Trump has passed laws to end lucrative tax breaks for wind and solar farms, electric cars and other technologies that would help combat global warming, which he falsely calls a 'hoax', while enacting sweeping measures to make it cheaper and easier for companies to extract more fossil fuels. The cancellation of the Arizona project comes as Forrest continues a years-long campaign to diversify Fortescue beyond its lucrative Western Australian iron ore mines and into the production of green hydrogen, a promising clean energy source that burns cleanly and could eventually help displace the use of coal, oil and gas in heavy industry. While Fortescue insists it remains steadfast in its commitment to green hydrogen, it has been forced to hit the brakes on the speed of its ambitions over the past year, blaming the high cost and the vast amount of renewable energy required. Most of the hydrogen produced across the world today is limited to 'grey hydrogen', made from gas through a process that emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
The Age
24-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
Trump kills Twiggy Forrest's US green hydrogen dream
Australian billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest has terminated a major hydrogen project in the United States as Donald Trump slashes tax breaks for clean energy investments and guts programs aimed at tackling climate change. The Forrest-led Fortescue Metals Group on Thursday said it would not proceed with a $US550 million ($830 million) plan to begin producing zero-emissions hydrogen at a new plant in Arizona, blaming the 'shift in priorities away from green energy' under the Trump administration. 'The lack of certainty and step-back in green ambition has stopped the emerging green energy markets, making it hard for previously feasible projects to proceed,' Fortescue head of growth and energy Gus Pichot said. 'As a result, we cannot proceed with our investments as they stand, and will explore future opportunities for our site in Arizona.' Since returning to the White House, Trump has passed laws to end lucrative tax breaks for wind and solar farms, electric cars and other technologies that would help combat global warming, which he falsely calls a 'hoax', while enacting sweeping measures to make it cheaper and easier for companies to extract more fossil fuels. The cancellation of the Arizona project comes as Forrest continues a years-long campaign to diversify Fortescue beyond its lucrative Western Australian iron ore mines and into the production of green hydrogen, a promising clean energy source that burns cleanly and could eventually help displace the use of coal, oil and gas in heavy industry. While Fortescue insists it remains steadfast in its commitment to green hydrogen, it has been forced to hit the brakes on the speed of its ambitions over the past year, blaming the high cost and the vast amount of renewable energy required. Most of the hydrogen produced across the world today is limited to 'grey hydrogen', made from gas through a process that emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
