2025 – the year when Australia makes a big shift to renewable energy, moves from gas to electricity and reforms national environment laws. Nuclear energy is rejected and a koala park is created in NSW.
Australia’s coal and gas exports are more widely recognised as major contributors to global warming, just as their markets decline.
Sydney Nannas are having some quiet times and thinking back over our year of action, friendship and learning. Firstly, we remember the wins we were part of – some of them landmark victories for climate, the environment and biodiversity.
Records were broken at the beginning of the year, but things really ramped up in the second half, as you will see below.
Wins for Sydney Knitting Nanna campaigns in 2025
Renewable Energy
Sydney Knitting Nannas have campaigned for coal and gas to be replaced by renewables since 2016. Solar panels on the roofs of suitable homes, public buildings and businesses with battery storage are not only good for the planet, they’re good for the economy and households, too.
Nannas are thrilled to see the increased take up of solar panels and batteries by homeowners, and we support campaigns for clean energy to be available to renters as well. We also thank all landholders hosting wind and solar farms on their properties. We are aware that some communities feel that it is unfair that the burden of hosting renewable projects is not shared more widely across the state.
May
The first battery units are installed for the 500 MW, two-hour Liddell battery, being built at the site of the shuttered coal plant in the first stage of its transformation into a green energy hub. (Renew Economy)
For the first time, more home battery systems are sold than solar systems. (Renew Economy)
June
The technology used to build big batteries in 100 days, like the Tesla battery at Hornsdale in South Australia, and their speedy responses, is reinventing the grid, leading the way to 100% renewables. (Renew Economy)
July
The federal Labor government’s Cheaper Home Batteries rebate scheme is launched on 1 July. (One Step off the Grid)
Wind farm bird protection tech is a success, with no new eagle deaths, and barely a dent in revenue. (Renew Economy)
A windy July blows away a number of wind energy generation records in four states, including NSW. (Renew Economy)
Australia installs 16,000 home batteries in 28 days in July. (One Step off the Grid
August
A battery capable of powering more than one million homes is connected to the power grid and switched on at the site of the former Munmorah coal-fired power station on the NSW Central Coast. (ABC News)
The federal and NSW governments announce nearly $18 million in joint funding for energy efficiency, and bill slashing energy upgrades to over 2,300 social housing homes. (One Step off the Grid)
The average household will be able to recover the cost of home batteries through electricity bill savings within four years, when factoring in rebates and virtual power plant participation. (One Step off the Grid)
Agrivoltaic farming practices improve wool quality as merino sheep graze among solar panels. (Farmingdale Observer)
September
Australia’s main grid achieves a new renewable record share of 78.6%. South Australia reaches a peak of 155.3% renewable share, breaking its own record. Rooftop solar generation accounts for over 43% of grid demand during the peak. (Renew Economy)
October
Home buyers are willing to pay a premium for houses with rooftop solar. (One Step off the Grid)
Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time. (The Guardian)
Rooftop solar on homes and businesses hits a new record of 15,597 megawatts (MW) as home battery rebates hit 89,000. Some coal generators are being switched off (two-shifting) at the start of the day and turned back on in the late afternoon when rooftop solar wanes. (Renew Economy)
A huge solar project commits one million panels for end-of-life recycling and reuse, before reaching full commercial operations. (Renew Economy)
The federal government announces a Solar Sharer scheme to start in the middle of 2026. Retailers will be required to offer free electricity to households for at least three hours in the middle of the day, when solar generation often produces more supply than demand. (ABC News)
November
The ‘Sun King’, founder of Suntech, receives co-investment funding from NSW and federal governments to bring large-scale solar panel manufacturing to the NSW Hunter Valley. (Renew Economy)
December
Global tech giants planning to build data centres in Australia will be expected to provide water sustainability and their own renewable energy generation and storage. (Renew Economy)
Battery storage cost plunges 45% this year. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) now acknowledges that more solar and batteries will come into the grid, and less wind and gas capacity will be needed. (Renew Economy)
The Albanese government announces it will tip nearly $5 billion more into the successful Cheaper Home Batteries rebate scheme, while also adjusting the scheme parameters to make it go further. (Energy Experts)
Getting Australia off Gas
Nannas encourage owners of homes and businesses to get off gas and go electric by replacing their old, ailing gas appliances with new electric appliances. We are speaking from our own experience – our new induction cooktops boil faster, clean easily, respond instantly to temperature change and they turn themselves off when we forget!
Nannas have campaigned for the NSW government and our Councils to ban gas in new builds. The government has refused so far, but some Councils have done so.
Methane Explainer
How harmful is gas to your health?
March
Households and businesses quitting gas to go electric or minimising use to save money help to push out forecasted gas shortfalls by three years, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). (Renew Economy)
August
Australia’s biggest gas advocates are quietly swapping out peaking gas plans for big batteries. (Renew Economy)
October
City of Sydney requires all newly built residential buildings, medium to large commercial buildings, hotels, and serviced apartment buildings, to be all-electric. (Renew Economy)
November
Manufacturers, food processors and other industrial energy users in Australia are beginning to turn away from natural gas and adopt electric alternatives, where possible, to cut pollution and reduce costs. (SMH)
Environmental Protection Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act
The Independent Review of the EPBC Act (the Samuel Review) conducted by Professor Graeme Samuel AC was completed in October 2020 and released to the public in January 2021. Since then, Nannas and other environment groups have been calling for the recommendations to be implemented.
The ALP government elected in 2023 consulted widely to reform the Act but failed to do so in their first term. In 2025 the new Environment Minister, Murray Watt, was determined to get reforms passed by the end of 2025 with the support of either the Coalition or the Greens.
November
Terrified that Labor would make a deal with the Coalitions, Nannas phone, email and visit Labor MPs and Senators, calling on them to make amendments that would lead to real improvements in environmental protection, and to make a deal with The Greens, rather than the opposition, which is what they eventually do.
The Greens win concessions on native forest logging and land clearing, the exclusion of fossil fuel projects from the fast-track approval process and the retention of the ‘water trigger’ in the assessment of onshore gas projects. (The Guardian)
Anti-nuclear campaign
Nannas campaigned for renewables and against nuclear alongside Labor, Community Independents and the Greens in the lead up to the federal election. The nuclear lion roars loudly, but voters don’t listen.
Nannas are waiting for proven fusion technology, more energy, less waste, before going nuclear.
May
How Labor pulls off a landslide win that no one saw coming (ABC News)
Native Forest Logging & Wildlife Protection
Nannas have been campaigning to stop native forest logging to save the habitats of endangered swift parrots, koalas and greater gliders. Many Nannas have travelled to the regions to campaign with local groups and see first-hand where the destruction is occurring.
Nannas have also worked with citizen scientists in the southern forests, recording sightings of greater gliders emerging from den trees at dusk. This identification of den trees protects them and all trees from being logged in a 50 metre radius. This work by citizen scientists doesn’t just save the lives of endangered species, it raises awareness about what they need to survive, and it also disrupts Forestry Commission’s logging of native forests.
September
NSW government puts a long-awaited moratorium on logging within the proposed Great Koala National Park’s boundaries and rolls out a job-keeper style support package for timber workers. Reserves will be added to the 176,000 hectares of state forest in mid-north NSW to protect more than 12,000 koalas. (The Guardian)
A legal win for the Wilderness Society requires the federal government to create recovery plans to protect four threatened species – the greater glider, the ghost bat, the lungfish and the sandhill dunnart. (The Guardian)
Fossil Fuels
Despite both state and federal governments’ disappointing approvals of gas and coal projects this year, there have been some wins and a landmark court decision in NSW. The market for Australia’s coal exports is in decline as other countries move to renewables.
May
EnergyAustralia pledges to back away from the use of carbon offsets to deal with fossil fuel emissions, following a legal settlement that is being hailed as a ‘landmark’ moment. (Renew Economy)
July
The Mount Pleasant coal mine expansion is halted after a successful community legal challenge. The Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group argues that the effect of scope 3 emissions, those created from the burning of exported coal, was not adequately considered by the Independent Planning Commission. (ABC News)
The International Court of Justice unanimously agrees that countries must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from fossil fuels must be reduced irrespective of where the fuel is burned. Importantly, production of fossil fuel is found to be an ‘internationally wrongful act’. (Environmental Defenders Office)
September
A controversial plan to burn wood in a shuttered coal plant is again rejected by the Planning Commission. (Renew Economy)
November
Court overturns Ulan coal mine approval over climate impacts. (Nature NSW)
South Korea decides to close all coal-fired power plants by 2040, sounding the alarm for Australian exports. (The Guardian)
Nannas swimming, in a dinghy and in kayaks help to turn around three coal ships and temporarily close the Newcastle coal port at the Rising Tide Protestival. Rising Tide Blockade: The Nanna Files.
Whitehaven Coal quietly withdraws their federal government application for their Blackwater North coal mine extension in Queensland after already achieving approval from the state government. (Renew Economy)
December
The Net Zero Commission acknowledges in their report ‘Spotlight on Coal’ that any expansion of coal mining in NSW would be inconsistent with the NSW Climate Change Act. (Lock the Gate)
The update by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) on their Australian Gas and LNG Tracker shows a declining outlook for Australian gas and LNG. (IEEFA)
The market for Australian coal is declining, as renewable energy overtakes coal in global electricity generation. (IEEFA)
Transport
Nannas use public transport whenever they can, and some have bought EVs to charge from their home solar panels.
September
The Brookvale bus depot in Sydney’s north is the first in NSW to offer fast-charging technology for battery-powered electric buses. It is the first of eleven depot conversions that will enable buses to be charged in 20 minutes. (The Driven)
October
A new Australian electric truck company signs a deal with Who Gives A Crap to deliver zero-emissions toilet paper. (The Driven)
November
Revcharge brings vehicle-to-grid (V2G) to market – bidirectional charging is no longer a concept, it’s a reality. (The Driven)
December
EV sales in Australia are up 10% in 2025 over 2024 numbers, as the gain in BYD, Kia and new Chinese brands more than offset the slump in Tesla deliveries. (The Driven)
Waste
Nannas are conscientious recyclers and reusers. We campaign against plastics and are very aware that our chief opponents are the fossil fuel corporations which make them.
April
Plastic pollution along Australia’s coastline drops by more than a third over the last decade according to CSIRO research. (SBS News)
August
A new Soft Plastic Processed Engineered Commodity (SPEC) facility on the NSW Mid North Coast can turn up to 14,000 tonnes of household soft plastics a year into pellets and flakes, which can then be used to create new plastic products. (ABC News)
Nanna actions help to make Australia a better place for our grandchildren. Join us to take action too. Contact us here