Community benefit and engagement frameworks in Australian renewable energy transition: a thematic analysis

The renewable energy transition has become a core priority in Australia over the past few decades, with a target to achieve 82% renewable energy in the country’s electricity grids by 2030. The social dimension, along with community acceptance of renewable infrastructure developments, is essential. Several publicly accessible documents guide decision-making at the Federal and State levels, as well as the roles of key stakeholders involved in the energy transition. However, obtaining the social license to operate remains a significant challenge, as it is hindered by the gap between strategic suggestions and actual implementation in practice. Therefore, this study employed the Thematic Analysis approach inductively, using NVivo, to collect textual data from documents and frameworks published by state governments and reputable non-governmental bodies in Australia since 2020. The thematic analysis of paragraphs was conducted under four categories (parent nodes): benefits sharing mechanisms, equity and inclusion, transparency and accountability, and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Thereafter, maps were generated to illustrate sub-themes (child nodes) along with referenced documents. In practice, the results underscore the need for more integrated strategies that align with timelines and involve stakeholders, including developers, policymakers, and communities, in future guidelines. Furthermore, the thematic analysis approach adopted in this study provides a proven methodology for analysing differently organised frameworks and reports. As analysis in academic research using industry frameworks is rare in the renewable energy sector from a social perspective, this provides a basis for future research. The created maps could be beneficially used and generalised for future frameworks.