Australia’s national science agency CSIRO has unveiled the most comprehensive survey of Australians’ attitudes toward the renewable energy transition.
More than 6,700 people were surveyed in all states and territories, across capital cities and regional areas, between August and September 2023.
Australians reported their top three priorities of the energy transition to be affordability, energy self-reliance, emissions reductions, with reliability being a close fourth.
The survey found most Australians supported change towards an energy system that relies more on renewables. Energy affordability was a high priority for most people, whether or not they were struggling to pay bills, and views differed on the speed and extent of the transition, with almost half (47%) preferring a moderate paced transition scenario compared to faster and more extensive change (40%). Thirteen per cent preferred a slower transition.
Related article: Research shows only one in eight Aussies gets ‘net zero’
CSIRO senior social scientist Dr Andrea Walton said the survey was developed to ensure views were representative and included people with experience living near existing or proposed renewable energy developments.
“The value of such a large survey is we can report with a higher degree of certainty what a range of people think,” Dr Walton said.
“The survey showed that most Australians supported the energy transition, but opinions varied about the rate and extent of change.
“Many Australians held generally moderate attitudes towards living near renewable energy infrastructure, suggesting a broad willingness to support, or at least tolerate, the development of solar farms, onshore and offshore wind farms, and associated transmission line infrastructure.”
Dr Walton said more research is needed to understand different geographic contexts like living out of town in regional areas and living near existing energy infrastructure.
The survey, conducted in partnership with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, indicated responses were similar between metropolitan and regional communities. Though people living out of town in regional areas were more negative towards the transition.
“This makes sense because people living out of town are more likely to be living near current or proposed developments,” Dr Walton said.
“Transmission lines were seen less favourably compared to other renewable energy infrastructure. The survey revealed an important reason for this was that people didn’t always recognise the role of additional transmission lines in the renewable energy transition.
“What this survey indicates is that when people believe that a piece of infrastructure has an important role in the energy transition, they’re much more likely to accept it.”
The insights will help federal policy makers, local, state and territory governments and industry understand what people think, and what that means for Australia’s renewable rollout.
Related article: Without community support, the energy transition will fail. Here’s how to get communities onboard
And the survey says…
- Affordable energy is important to Australians, with 82% ranking it in their top three priorities.
- When considering a hypothetical scenario, more than 80% of Australians would, at least, tolerate living within 10km of renewable energy infrastructure.
- Solar farms had the highest level of acceptance, although attitudes to solar farms were less favourable in 2023 (88% would at least tolerate living near a solar farm) compared with an earlier survey conducted in 2020 (95%).
- More than 80% of people surveyed would at least tolerate or be okay with living near a windfarm. However, those living in proposed offshore windfarm regions were more likely to reject living near them.
- Acceptance of living near associated transmission lines was lower than other forms of renewable energy infrastructure, with 23% of people rejecting it and 77% at least tolerating it.
