Vulnerability and Australia’s Energy Transition

• Australia’s energy transition will affect every household and community – positively for some, but with risks and challenges for others. Understanding who is most vulnerable to harm, how and why, is critical to ensuring the transition is fair and equitable. 

   

• Research on vulnerability in the energy transition remains limited compared to technological and economic research. This report identifies key knowledge gaps, research strengths and future priorities to guide evidence-informed policy and improve social, cultural and economic outcomes across the transition.

   

• The energy transition is more than a technological shift – it is a complex social process. It will require wide-ranging participation, careful management of trade-offs, and stronger attention to social licence, communication, and equity to ensure benefits are shared fairly. 

   

• A fair, equitable and just transition depends on recognising and addressing vulnerability as a national research and policy priority. Targeted, interdisciplinary research can help identify risks early, build resilience, and ensure decision-making processes are transparent, inclusive and responsive to community needs. 

   

• Australia’s transition is unfolding within a fast-changing global and domestic context. Understanding how international instability, evolving markets and national policy settings shape local vulnerabilities will be essential to guide future research, strengthen resilience, and inform effective policy responses.
   

The renewable energy transition will affect the daily lives of all Australians – positively for some, but with risks and challenges for others. There is a broad commitment to a ‘fair, just and equitable energy transition’ in which the benefits and burdens of Australia’s clean energy transformation are shared equitably (ACOLA - Examining JUST energy metrics (Taylor, 2025)).

By improving our shared understanding of vulnerability – defined simply as susceptibility to harm – in Australia’s energy transition, we are far better placed to deliver a fair, just and equitable energy transition. Research on vulnerability and the energy transition, however, is limited, especially when compared to scientific and economic research. We need to improve our knowledge about which individuals and communities may be most likely to experience negative impacts and how and why harms might occur. 

This report contributes to the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) Energy Transition Research Plan, with a focus on Theme 2: Social engagement dynamics (Clarke et al., 2022b). It identifies the knowledge gaps, research questions and opportunities that Australia should prioritise over particularly the next five years and beyond to better understand and address vulnerability in the energy transition. The report reviews international and domestic academic research, policies, and on-ground case studies in a variety of research disciplines to do this. Improved understanding of vulnerability and the energy transition can help close knowledge gaps, build on existing research strengths, establish research priorities, deliver evidence to inform decisions, design policies, improve public understanding of the transition, and reduce or prevent harms.

The report identifies priority research topics that can help to achieve these aims. Priority topics where Australian research is lacking or lags international research include ‘intersectionality’ (the interactions of different social characteristics), energy vulnerability/energy poverty, gender and the energy transition, and consideration of vulnerabilities in energy policy. Priority topics where Australia has existing strengths that could be leveraged to focus more on vulnerability include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and vulnerability, the relationship between location (i.e. rural/remote) and vulnerability, transition jobs and skills, energy justice, critical minerals, social licence, social impact assessment, and benefit sharing. 

The report sets out a clear framework to support consistent and comprehensive approaches to research on vulnerability and the energy transition across the diverse priority topics identified. It offers research questions to spark research investigations and guide attention towards key issues identified in the academic literature. The report also identifies three cross-cutting themes for all research into vulnerability and the energy transition: structural and institutional dimensions of vulnerability; lived experiences of vulnerability; and development of methodologies to advance a fair, equitable and just energy transition. Together, the background knowledge, research gaps identified, and analytical framing provide Australia with a clear and important foundation for targeted and impactful research on vulnerability and the energy transition.