Building Clean Energy to Benefit Nature and Communities
Right now Queensland is heavily reliant on coal-fired power, and our polluting energy system is responsible for 33% of the State’s emissions. If we fail to slash these emissions, it will worsen global heating and devastate Queensland's precious ecosystems.
To replace coal and gas generation, a significant amount of solar, wind and storage—like batteries or pumped hydro—needs to be urgently built. But due to Queensland’s poor planning frameworks, we’re already seeing renewable energy development proposed and approved in environmentally significant areas and without appropriate community consultation.
Strong climate action means both protecting nature and repowering our polluting energy system. That’s why we urgently need updated national and state-wide planning frameworks that stop development in the places we need to protect. We can and must have a renewable energy industry that's rolled out to benefit nature, as well as First Nations people and regional communities.
We can improve the roll out of renewable energy
We're campaigning for planning reforms so that renewable energy projects are built in the right places and managed in a way that improves local biodiversity. Read our Shared Statement on Building Renewables to Benefit Nature and Communities to learn more about our vision and campaign asks.
Want to be involved? Email the State Planning Minister to call for better planning frameworks.
Cutting through the misinformation
Genuine community concerns about renewable energy are being co-opted by vested interests and climate change deniers. While we are seeing some renewable energy projects proposed in areas of high biodiversity, we're also seeing the environmental impacts of renewable energy projects being grossly exaggerated.
So what's the truth? According to the latest data, 88% of land clearing in Queensland was for pasture development, mostly for cattle. In comparison all infrastructure projects (which solar and wind falls under) made up 1% of clearing.
We estimate that building enough wind farms to support Queensland’s entire energy transition would equate to only 5.5% of the land clearing that is currently occurring across the state every single year.
Why not nuclear?
Right now politicians and vested interests are pushing nuclear energy in order to derail Australia's transition to renewable energy and keep coal operating for longer. Our communities and nature are already hurting from the impacts of climate change and we can't afford to wait for a nuclear industry that will likely take 20+ years to get started in Australia.
Nuclear is climate denial repackaged. Nuclear is 2-4 times more expensive than renewable energy backed by storage according to the CSIRO. What's worse, nuclear waste remains dangerous and radioactive for thousands of years and no country in the world has a long-term storage solution to deal with the problem.
Want to learn more? Listen to our webinar on nuclear energy and why it's not a climate solution for Australia.
What else is QCC doing?
Alongside campaigning on planning reform, QCC is involved in the following:
- We’re working with the Energy Charter to deliver a code of conduct for renewable energy developers in Queensland.
- We were a part of the consultations for the development of the Better Practice Renewables and Biodiversity: Opportunities for Collaboration Guide.
- We’re taking a holistic approach, so as a part of the Power Together collaboration we’re campaigning for more household and community-scale solar, storage and energy efficiency upgrades. This work is particularly focused on making sure clean technology is accessible for renters and social housing tenants.
- We consistently review project environmental impact statements and you can view our submissions here.
- We’ve been jointly hosting regional events about improving the renewable energy roll out, as well as informative webinars.
- We’re engaging with the Renewable Energy Zone development process, which has had multiple rounds of consultation.