Regional Energy Transitions in Australia

This book provides an accessible and critical appraisal of Australia’s regional energy transition initiatives.

The book begins by situating Australian energy transition in the context of Australian and international debates about climate change and energy transition. It then explores how energy transition planning was made possible in Australia’s regional energy heartlands even while public transition planning was impossible. The authors consider five case studies of key early transition initiatives in the Latrobe Valley (Victoria), Hunter Valley (NSW), Central Queensland (Queensland), Port Augusta (South Australia) and Collie (Western Australia). They explore how transition came onto the agenda and outline the key actors, decision points and actions. The authors go on to critically assesses the successes and failures of the initiative, drawing out key learnings for other regions. The book concludes by evaluating the key cross-cutting themes emerging from the five case studies and draws out the lessons they teach about how to achieve a just transition.

This concise book will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy transitions, climate action, social justice, economic renewal and regional transition challenges and strategies, both in Australia and overseas.

Gareth A.S. Edwards is a Visiting Associate Professor in the School of Global Development at the University of East Anglia, UK and a Visiting Fellow at the Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney. He was the recent holder of a Leverhulme International Fellowship for research on justifications for ongoing coal extraction in Australia and India. He also led a British Academy-funded project ’A just transition away from coal in Australia’ which sought to understand what ’just transition’ means in Australia, the challenges Australia will have to overcome to achieve a just transition away from coal, and the opportunities for reframing just transition ideas in ways which stimulate productive discussions between different stakeholders and communities.

John Wiseman is a Senior Research Fellow at Melbourne Climate Futures and Adjunct Professor at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne and Chair of the Board of The Next Economy. He is the author of numerous articles, book chapters and reports on climate change policy and energy transitions including Wiseman, J. & Wollersheim, L. ’Building Just and Resilient Zero Carbon Regions’, Melbourne Climate Futures 2022. His most recent book is Hope and Courage in the Climate Crisis, Palgrave Macmillan 2021.

Amanda Cahill is the CEO and Founder of The Next Economy, a non-profit organisation that supports regional communities across Australia to build more resilient, climate safe and socially just economies. Amanda has supported all levels of government, industry, workers and community groups to manage the energy transition across Queensland, the Hunter Valley, the Latrobe Valley and the Northern Territory. Amanda sits on the Australian Energy Market Operator’s Social Licence Advisory Council, the National Hydrogen Strategy Advisory Council, and is a Senior Research Fellow at Melbourne Climate Futures at the University of Melbourne, an Industry Fellow at the Sydney Policy Lab and a 2023 Churchill Fellow.