Zero

• But the popularity of these batteries shouldn’t be the only factor in decisions about where they are rolled out.
• In short, we find the main use of these batteries is to make the grid able to handle more solar and electric vehicles.
• This is why we have produced a decision-making tool for policymakers to figure out where and when these batteries are worthwhile.

What exactly is a community battery – and why is the idea popular?

• The idea is for these batteries to reduce carbon emissions and energy bills while benefiting all energy users nearby, rather than only those with access to rooftop solar.
• First, we need greater clarity on how we decide whether community batteries are a good investment.
• Second, we need better measurement and evaluation of what these batteries actually contribute to the grid and to energy users.

Why put batteries into communities at all?

• Recent research has shown that if batteries are run to maximise profits, they could actually increase emissions by charging from coal power.
• So the real question is: why put batteries into our suburbs and small towns at all?
• These tasks may be done more efficiently and with less environmental impact with grid-scale batteries, pumped hydro or electric vehicle batteries.
• Community batteries are also no panacea for the desire of people to see and be included in national planning for the decarbonisation transition.

Build these batteries only when warranted

• Alice Wendy Russell has received funding from State (Vic) and Commonwealth governments for work on neighbourhood batteries and microgrids.
• Hedda Ransan-Cooper has received funding from State and Federal governments, including from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, for work related to community batteries.
• Louise Bardwell has received funding from State (Vic) and Federal governments for work on neighbourhood batteries.

• Over the past six months Geelong has hosted one of Australia’s largest ever local “listening campaigns” relating to the climate transition.
• It’s part of the University of Sydney’s Real Deal for Australia project.
• So what can this policymaking experiment teach the Net Zero Authority about how to plan Australia’s climate transition?

Transition works best as a cooperative process

• For many, those transitions were done “to” Geelong not “with” Geelong.
• The term covers a wide range of methods, all based on the principle that communities should be at the centre of any research or policy process that is about them.
• Read more:
  'We know our community better than they do': why local knowledge is key to disaster recovery in Gippsland

How does the Real Deal approach work?

• Real Deal projects have also begun in Western Sydney and the Queensland port city of Gladstone.
• In the Real Deal approach, “relationships must precede action”.
• Together, they have produced a distinctive approach to community-led research, outlined in a 2020 Real Deal Report.
• Between September 2022 and March 2023, the Real Deal for Geelong team conducted 38 “table talks”.

So what are the findings from Geelong?

• The listening process found the path to net zero requires more than just creating new industries and new jobs.
• In Geelong, the biggest issue was anxiety about housing – 92% of participants mentioned it.
• Poor housing stock, especially rental homes, was unable to handle increasingly erratic weather.
• In addition to housing, jobs, cost of living and quality care services were seen as vital in the transition to net zero.

How policy is made matters

• When planning for climate transition was connected to the other daily pressures people face, participants felt more certain of their agency.
• As Australia steps up its investment in the transition, Geelong’s experience shows it matters how policy is made.

• The Albanese government has announced a Net Zero Authority to reduce national emissions and help industry, communities and workers manage the shift to a low-carbon economy.
• So let’s take a look at how the Net Zero Authority can help Australia make the most of this once-in-a-generation economic transformation.

What will the Net Zero Authority do?

• Reaching the target requires a transformation of Australia’s economy away from emissions-intensive activities such as burning fossil fuels.
• But without an organisation such as the Net Zero Authority, reaching this target was not assured, and workers and communities may have suffered along the way.
• The authority will work with federal agencies and state, territory and local governments, existing regional bodies, unions, industry, investors, First Nations groups and others.
• Our findings suggest the Net Zero Authority is on the right track, and offers specific ways forward on policy.
• Read more:
  We need a National Energy Transition Authority to help fossil fuel workers adjust

Co-ordination is key

• Between them, they extract or make products such as iron ore, steel, aluminium, chemicals and liquified natural gas.
• These regions are significant in terms of emissions and energy use, but also make a big contribution to the economy.
• We found more work was required to coordinate the transition and help all stakeholders collaborate and attract investment.

Let’s get together

• Our research suggests one approach: creating clusters of industrial businesses in one place, powered by 100% renewable energy.
• We identified 11 priority areas across Australia with the potential to host these precincts.
• It would allow businesses to share resources and knowledge, reduce costs and capitalise on Australia’s abundant renewable energy resources.

Paying for the transition

• Co-investment partnerships between federal agencies and state governments could offer even greater benefits.
• Co-investment is a way for governments to combine multiple, smaller funding sources to achieve scale and efficiency.
• Attracting private capital is important for reaching the scale of finance needed to fully decarbonise industry in key regional locations.

Seize the moment

• Australia’s energy transition represents a moment of great opportunity.
• But it means focusing on the needs of our workforce and industries and ensuring no-one gets left behind.
• It will help ensure Australia’s industries, regions and communities are positioned to prosper in a decarbonising global economy.

• Formal negotiations are underway to develop a pandemic treaty under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO): an international agreement setting out commitments by countries to collective action on future pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound but inequitable impact on people’s lives, and we need deeper understanding of the diverse individual and shared experiences of this pandemic.
• To support meaningful engagement, we offer the following observations as in-person and virtual attendees of the recent engagement forum.

Representation

• Organizers declined to circulate a participant list, citing privacy considerations, so it remains difficult to assess how representative of diversity the forum was.
• Also, did organizers aim to keep the number of representatives for each group roughly the same (implying their moral equivalence) or were numbers weighted?
• For example, with 20 per cent of Canada’s population under 30 years of age, would 10-15 youth representatives be sufficient?

Perspectives

• The process for gathering perspectives determines how meaningful the engagement is.
• The process in Ottawa largely consisted of plenary presentations and six one-hour breakout groups.
• Each of the breakout groups focused on a broad preset topic.
• Briefing papers for each topic were provided, but critically absent was a succinct summary of Canada’s current positioning on these issues.

Lessons and opportunities

Overall, we believe the consultations could have yielded deeper insights by:
• Emerging from a prolonged pandemic, which has opened fissures across Canadian society and globally, the task is now even more challenging.
• Yet Canadian and other governments must persist in these laudable efforts as they approach treaty negotiations.
• Meaningful engagement aims to gather insights towards nuanced, responsive and productive solutions to complex problems.
• In addition to informing government positioning, meaningful engagement will help renew faith, eroded during the pandemic, in democratic processes.