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Paving clever pathways to net zero

The Australian Energy Transition Research Plan began as a conversation with the energy sector in 2019. It is now a national map of what Australia still needs to find out, and who should go looking.

A series of professional headshots of ACOLA's Australian Energy Transition Research Plan steering committee. Featuring Emeritus Professor Kenneth Baldwin, Distinguished Professor Fran Baum, Emeritus Professor Sue Richardson, Merryn York, Thomas Maschmeyer, Emeritus Professor Lesley Head

Australia cannot import the answers it needs

Australia is a major energy exporter as well as a domestic consumer, and the road to net zero is harder here than in most places. The transition to non-fossil and renewable sources is already underway across the country, but until this work began there was no coordinated, holistic picture of the research supporting it, and no independent, authoritative statement of where the gaps and priorities lay.

International energy transition research is progressing strongly. It is not a substitute. Local problems need local solutions, so Australia has to keep building its own research capability. Our energy environment is distinctive enough to generate its own research questions over the coming decade.

Infographic of Australia reaching net-zero targets - geography, climate, dispersed population, federal structure

Australia cannot rely solely on international research to support its own transition.

Australian Energy Transition Research Plan /

A steering committee drawn from the Learned Academies

The Research Plan is led by an ACOLA Steering Committee of experts and Fellows from Australia's Learned Academies, bringing multidisciplinary expertise across the energy and research sectors. The committee provides strategic oversight, expert input, analysis and provocative thinking.

Steering Committee

Project management

Overall governance and monitoring of the Research Plan is led by ACOLA, an independent, not-for-profit research organisation.

  • Dr Lauren Palmer
  • Dr Maxine Newlands

With thanks to

Past ACOLA research and project staff, and external researchers who contributed to this work.

  • Dr Fern Beavis
  • Ms Stephanie Chan
  • Dr Reza Fazeli
  • Ms Judita Hudson
  • Professor Tina Soliman Hunter
  • Associate Professor Madeline Taylor
  • Dr Vlado Vivoda
  • Dr Ella Relf

From a question in 2019 to a published research agenda

The Research Plan set out to identify research gaps and promote research priorities for a successful transition to net zero, and to use them to inform the direction, allocation and quantum of research funding in Australia.

Late 2019: ACOLA opens discussions with the energy sector

The starting point was a gap, not a grant. ACOLA approached the Australian energy sector about the need for a national research plan that could show, in one place, what was already being researched and what was being missed.       

Mid 2020: The work officially commences

Stakeholder support was strong and a number of funding partners joined, which formally launched the Australian Energy Transition Research Plan.

Phase one: The Research Plan is published 

Report One identified the urgent and strategic research priorities and the questions underneath them. It gave funders, industry and researchers a shared reference for what the transition actually demands of Australian research.

2021–22: Phase two goes deeper

The second phase examined the priorities in detail and took on two questions the first phase had exposed: how energy research is funded, and how it gets translated into impact. 

2022–24: Briefing papers expand each theme 

A series of briefing papers now expands the research themes in the plan, identifying critical gaps and proposing actionable research questions under each one. A summary report and a briefing paper on the community and social aspects of the transition are still to come.

Now: An update to Australian Energy Transition Research Plan

ACOLA in partnership with the Net Zero Economy Authority held ACCELERATE 2035: National Energy Transition Research Summit. The Summit convened cross-sector leaders from research, government, industry and regulation, alongside Australia’s Learned Academies, to undertake a coordinated national reset of Australia’s energy transition research priorities to accelerate the energy transition to the pace required to meet Australia’s 2035 target and net zero by 2050.

Written for three groups, on purpose

  1. Researchers

Shape what you study next

Use the priorities to sharpen ongoing research and grant applications. The plan is clear that this research belongs not only to universities, but to industry, government, civil society and other sectors.

     2. Research funders

Direct money where it moves the transition

Draw on the reports and the priorities when assessing and approving applications, so that funding lands where the benefit is greatest.

     3. Research users

See what is already underway

Industry, policymakers and others can find out what research is in progress and what it means for them, before committing to a path.

Eight reports, three pathways

Together the reports address the critical pathways required to reach net zero: prioritising urgent and strategic research, funding energy research, and translating research into impact.

  1. Australian Energy Transition Research Plan
    The urgent and strategic research priorities, and the questions beneath them.
  2. Australia's Funding of Energy Research: Quantum and Comparison
    How much Australia spends on energy research, and how that compares.
  3. Energy System Dynamics
    Theme 1.
  4. Social Engagement Dynamics
    Theme 2.
  5. Transition Dynamics
    Theme 3.
  6. Energy Research Translation
    What it takes to move research from finding to impact.
  7. Vulnerability and Australia's Energy Transition
    Who carries the risk as the system changes.
  8. Examining JUST energy metrics: Exploring Australia research opportunities
    Measuring whether the transition is a fair one.

Funding Partners for the Australian Energy Transition Research Plan

ACOLA gratefully acknowledges the support and contribution to the project. This project is supported by the Australian Government Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and National Energy Resources Australia (NERA).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The views and opinions expressed in this Research Plan are those of ACOLA and the Steering Committee, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NERA, CSIRO and ARENA.

ACOLA also acknowledges and is grateful for funding from the Ian Potter Foundation which is supporting work to explore the future of continuing this important project.