Presenter: Associate Professor Jonathan Pickering (Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra).
Time, date and location: 10-11.30am, 2 May 2024, Fishbowl 24A30 (Building 24). To join remotely online please contact Elise.Remling@canberra.edu.au for Teams link.
Abstract: The concentration of renewable energy development in Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) in Australia could offer a range of benefits for regional communities – including employment during the construction phase and ongoing benefit-sharing streams from infrastructure projects – but it may also come with a variety of adverse impacts, including disruption of visual amenity and pressures on housing and local services. In this paper (co-authored with Pierrick Chalaye) we ask: how effectively are synergies and tensions between renewable energy expansion and social equity being managed in the implementation of policies on REZs; and what political factors drive levels of coherence between these policy objectives? We present findings from a case study of renewable energy expansion in New South Wales, drawing on a recent report published by the Centre for Environmental Governance and the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra.