Reaching net zero in Australia relies on the bush. That’s where the land, sun, wind and freshwater resources are.

But as the clean energy build accelerates, some landholders are pushing back. Unfortunately, their legitimate worries have been magnified by media coverage and vested interests.

The recent series of News Corp Australia Bush Summits promoted farming and mining while mining magnate Gina Rinehart took aim at the damage she claims renewables and the “net zero ideology” were doing to farmers already struggling with “devastating droughts, fires [and] floods”.

Clean energy – key to mitigating climate change – is growing rapidly, driven by projects in rural areas. In just five years, Australia has almost doubled how much clean energy goes into its main grid, reaching 40% this year.

The speed of the rollout has caused fractures in regional and rural areas as the “presumed benevolence” of renewable energy comes face-to-face with the realities of large-scale infrastructure development. In Victoria, controversial new laws mandating access for transmission line builders are likely to inflame relations with host landowners. The carrot of increased payments seems barely enough.

Farmers worry more and more about changes to the climate. Most quietly support renewables and many benefit directly from the reliable income of solar and wind. But rapid change can create real tensions, especially when change is seen as being done to a community, not with it.

What should be done? Policymakers, project developers and landowners should focus on finding ways of equitably sharing the very real benefits of the clean energy transition with the communities who will host them.

The energy debate has long been polarised in Australia, characterised by

© The Conversation