Trending Up: How clean energy agreementmaking in Australia is raising the bar on benefit and co-ownership arrangements for Australian Traditional Owners

The clean energy industry is the most significant to impact the Indigenous Estate since the mining boom that began early in the 2000s. During the mining boom, it was estimated that 60 per cent of minerals in Australia were extracted from, or next to, Traditional Owner communities. The clean energy transition likewise will occur on vast tracts of Traditional Owners’ Country. Mining, oil and gas companies are increasingly active in the clean energy space to decarbonise their operations, but there are also major new international clean energy companies investing in Australian projects. These clean energy projects often have a huge land footprint and will produce equally enormous amounts of power.

However, the clean energy industry is faced with a different legal and policy framework to the mining, oil and gas industries. It is also being established in an environment that presents different economic and political pressures and opportunities. This paper explores how these differences are impacting the way that Traditional Owners are negotiating or developing clean energy projects on their Country.