White Paper: Governance reform critical to successfully navigate the energy transition

A new paper released today identifies practical governance reforms to help Australia successfully navigate the energy transition. The Energy Efficiency Council (EEC), supported by the RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre (RACE), commissioned the White Paper which draws on research, public consultation and confidential interviews with more than one hundred leaders across governments, market bodies, industry, research and civil society. 

‘Australia’s energy governance framework evolved during a period of stable technologies, steady growth in demand and broad alignment among governments.

But the energy system of today is rapidly changing, so the way we govern it needs to change too,’ said Jeremy Sung, Head of Policy at the EEC.  

‘The recommendations in this report have been developed after speaking with a broad group of energy sector leaders and represent a thoughtful, measured approach to governance reform, given the limited time left to achieve the transition,’ Sung said. 

The White Paper identifies a package of recommendations for governments and energy market bodies, grouped into seven key themes. These include: 

• leading from the top to build a culture of collaboration across sectors, fuels and government portfolios, 

• expanding demand-side policy capability, given the increasingly distributed nature of energy resources, 

• treating deliberative approaches to energy policy development as essential, not a luxury to building the ‘social licence’ for change, and 

• investing more in policy-relevant research. 

The report highlights Australia’s relatively low share of energy sector R&D funding compared with scale of the challenge, and notes that research at ‘arm’s-length’ from government is essential to rapidly test and iterate ideas without the restrictions that governments can face. 

‘This report highlights the immense value of research to support evidence-based decisions on energy policy, from universities, but also energy companies, consumer representatives, research institutes, and think tanks,’ said Dr Bill Lilley, CEO of RACE for 2030. 

The EEC will be briefing governments and energy market bodies on the White Paper’s recommendations over the next few months. 

-ENDS-  

Download the report: https://eec.org.au/publication/power-dynamics-energy-governance-in-australia/ 

Media enquiries: 

EEC | James Pound | 0420 253 650 | info@eec.org.au 

RACE | Katherine Seddon | 0433 812 889 |  katherine.seddon@racefor2030.com.au