The possibility of a Regional Energy Accord and the journey we are about to embark upon…
by Bryce Ives, Facilitator of the Regional Energy Accord
Next week, we begin a journey that could shape the future of Australia’s energy transition, starting not in boardrooms or the traditional halls of power, but in Gippsland, Yackandandah and the Wimmera Southern Mallee. These are the first of what we hope will be many regional roundtables marking the beginning of co-creating the Regional Energy Accord, a partnership built on deep listening, deep democracy and place-based leadership inspired by the Hon. Cathy McGowan AO.
As we embark on the journey ahead, which could take at least 12 months, I am reminded that it will require significant partnership, collaboration and generosity of time, space and perspective for it to truly succeed. This morning, one of our community champions, Matthew Charles-Jones from Totally Renewable Yackandandah, has reminded me of the writer and thinker Margaret Wheatley:
“Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.
Talk to people you know.
Talk to people you don’t know.
Talk to people you never talk to.
Be intrigued by the differences you hear.
Expect to be surprised.
Treasure curiosity more than certainty.”
The Regional Energy Accord is not a new policy. It’s not a top-down framework or a symbolic gesture. It is, quite simply, a journey towards shared agreement, an evolving pact between communities, industry and governments to do the energy transition better in regional Australia, fairer, smarter, and more trusted. It is an attempt at a national effort to ensure the energy transition happens with regional Australia, not to it.
Regional Australia is carrying the load of the nation’s energy transition, hosting the infrastructure, navigating the impacts and doing the groundwork for the nation's energy transition. This work also unlocks opportunities: to strengthen local economies, create new industries, and build community resilience. But too often, projects happen to local communities, not with them. The Regional Energy Accord can change that. It starts with listening, not answers, and it’s about putting local people and knowledge at the centre of shaping how change happens. As the writer and thinker Margaret Wheatley reminds us, transformation starts not with control, but with conversation. The Regional Energy Accord can become a space for that conversation, to discover what regional communities care about, and to act from that discovery.
Together, we can build thriving, resilient regional communities that are active partners in Australia’s renewable energy future. With an estimated $1.9 billion in benefits by 2050: Billions in the Bush Report, the Regional Energy Accord can offer a clear pathway to foster partnership, prosperity, innovation and pride in regional Australia through collaborative commitments.
Where did it begin?
The Regional Energy Accord emerged from a simple but provocative challenge posed by the Hon. Cathy McGowan AO at a national meeting of The Energy Charter CEO Council in October 2024. The Energy Charter is a CEO-led coalition of energy organisations committed to better outcomes for communities and customers during the energy transition. At that meeting, Cathy said, "What we’re doing isn’t working for regional communities." That statement sparked a conversation that is now becoming (somewhat) of a movement.
The Energy Charter stepped up to convene and facilitate the Regional Energy Accord to show up differently, by listening first and acting with communities. From the start, this has been about asking bold questions:
What would it take to build a shared vision for the energy transition in regional Australia?
What does it look like when the energy transition truly delivers prosperity for local communities?
What has impressed me is that The Energy Charter took this call seriously. With support from regional leaders and industry groups, we have launched the Regional Energy Accord process, not to reinvent the wheel, but to build on existing work, acknowledge overlaps and gaps, and chart a course forward together.
As Cathy acknowledged recently, there is a need to “bring communities into the discussion with enough power and voice to say to developers, guys, you can’t just give us $70,000 for the footy team, and think you’ve done your job. You’ve actually got to engage the whole community.”
What’s happening now?
We’re kicking off with three regional roundtables in Victoria, designed in partnership with local champions and community leaders:
Gippsland in Morwell– supported by Karen Cain, former CEO of the Latrobe Valley Authority.
North-East Victoria in Yackandandah – supported by Matthew Charles-Jones of Totally Renewable Yackandandah.
Wimmera Southern Mallee in Horsham – supported by Chris Sounness, CEO of WSM Development.
These roundtables are not consultations. They are working sessions grounded in lived experience, designed to surface community expectations, shared aspirations, and practical insights. It has been encouraging to see the diverse mix of people in the sessions, as well as the addition of government agencies, including DCCEEW, VicGrid, SEC and DEECA, who are attending as observers, recognising the importance of policy being shaped by those on the ground.
As the facilitator of this process, my role is to hold space for honest, place-based dialogue, ensuring that all voices, especially those of regional communities, are heard and respected. I’m here to help guide the journey, not dictate the outcome. That means listening deeply, surfacing insights, and helping translate diverse perspectives into shared understanding and practical next steps. It’s about building trust, designing a journey that will last, and creating the conditions for communities, industry, and government to come together in genuine partnership. My view is that the process must belong to everyone, and my job is to ensure that it happens as well as possible.
The not-so-straightforward journey of an Accord
Around the world, accords have been used as powerful tools to align diverse stakeholders, governments, industries, communities and civil society around shared values, principles, and long-term goals. Take, for example, the United Nations Global Compact, which invites businesses to commit to ten universal principles covering human rights, labour, the environment, and anti-corruption. What makes the Compact significant is not just the principles themselves, but the collective process of commitment, transparency, and learning it creates. It becomes a living framework that encourages organisations to reflect, evolve, and be accountable, not through regulation, but through shared purpose.
Accords like this don't emerge overnight. They are built through conversation, trust, and sometimes tension. They require spaces where competing interests can find common ground, and where aspirations can be translated into practical commitments. Whether in sustainability, trade, or human rights, successful accords begin with a process of deep listening and shared authorship. This is precisely what we are beginning with the Regional Energy Accord in Australia: a national journey to map what "good" looks like in the energy transition, grounded in the lived realities of regional communities. The potential is enormous; if done well, the Regional Energy Accord could become a blueprint for collaboration and trust, ensuring the transition to clean energy delivers lasting value to the regions that power our nation.
What we’re learning
The early phases of the Regional Energy Accord have already surfaced powerful insights and some hard truths. This isn’t just about designing a better process; it’s about shifting the culture and expectations of how change happens in regional Australia.
Here are seven critical lessons emerging from the work so far:
1. Start with governance
The process is only as trustworthy as the structures that hold it. That’s why we began by establishing three core groups:
Community Outcomes Group includes trusted local leaders from agriculture, First Nations, community, and government who stay involved beyond roundtables to turn words into action.
Industry Impact Group brings energy sector leaders to the table to align strategy, investment, and delivery with what communities say matters.
CEO Council ensures the sector’s top decision-makers listen to regional knowledge and lead internal change.
2. The call is bigger than energy
Yes, the Regional Energy Accord focuses on the energy transition, but what is becoming clear in our early work is that’s just one chapter in a broader regional story. In every conversation, community leaders are pointing to a deeper desire: for investment, opportunity and trust to be embedded in long-term regional development, not just tied to energy infrastructure.
One leader put it plainly: “We don’t want an energy accord. We want a regional accord that includes energy.”
3. Many community leaders are asking for a North Star
In the process so far, key community leaders from regional Australia have said the Regional Energy Accord can be grounded in community expectations, not just business commitments.
“Maybe it’s not lowest common denominator commitments from business... maybe it’s a high-level set of expectations from communities.”
It should reflect regional values and include stories of lived experience.
“We’re doing kitchen table meetings with people... they want to be heard.”
It needs to strike a balance between aspiration and accountability, offering both a vision and practical tools for change. Recently, in our Community Outcomes Group meeting, someone commented:
“The Accord should capture the lived experience, not just the policy response. It’s about telling the story and framing it in a way that gives communities a stronger voice. ”
The fatigue is real. The Regional Energy Accord is an opportunity to anchor something more enduring, a shared direction or what one champion called a “North Star,” to align action across sectors, timelines and agendas. It’s not just about solving problems; it’s about building a shared sense of purpose. This question of “who benefits, and how?” is becoming central to the Regional Energy Accord.
4. Listening beyond the roundtables
“Real listening always brings people closer together.”
Not everyone wants to, or can, attend a roundtable. That’s why the process also includes kitchen table conversations, one-on-one dialogues, and locally led engagements. As one community member told us:
“We’re not interested in more talking. We’re interested in being heard, on our terms.”
The Regional Energy Accord aims to reflect the full texture of regional experience, not just curated quotes or performative participation.
5. Difference should be held and designed with purpose and intent in the process.
In complexity, there is diversity and that’s not a problem to solve. One Industry Outcomes Group member said,
“We hear different things from different people, and that makes it hard to act.”
But the difference is not dysfunction. It’s a sign of real democracy. The Regional Energy Accord can hold space for complexity, not be reduced to a lowest common denominator. It’s what Wheatley calls “being intrigued by the differences you hear.” As Lead Facilitator, I have designed the workshops with the following key principles:
Recognition that rural communities are diverse, not homogeneous
Need for genuine partnership and co-design, not simply consultation
Community leaders can be empowered and “lifted up” in the process
Clear accountability and transparency mechanisms are required
6. We don’t know the outcome or destination this is a journey……
In a recent meeting with the Community Outcomes Group, key question emerged – can this process grapple with:
Equity and distribution: How are benefits shared fairly across sub-regions?
Trust and credibility: What will it take for businesses and communities to truly trust one another?
Listening and difference: How do we hold space for diverse experiences without being “divided and conquered”?
Impact and accountability: What will shift behaviour and decision-making?
This process is showing what contemporary regional development could look like: community-first, systems-based and grounded in real partnerships. It’s not about lowest-common-denominator commitments from business. It’s about high-level, place-based expectations from communities and aligning actions to meet them.
This will be a living document shaped, tested and refined by those on the ground. Our hope is that it becomes a national reference point for how to do transition well - with trust, with transparency and with communities in the driver’s seat.
What happens next?
Following the August roundtables in Victoria, we’ll begin synthesising what we’re hearing: the shared principles, the regional priorities and the tensions that can be worked through. This will inform a first iteration of the Regional Energy Accord, a living document built from the ground up and tested in practice, not theory.
Our vision is for the Regional Energy Accord to become a national reference point — a new standard for how the energy transition occurs in regional Australia, not just for it.
It will only work if it’s real.
If it means something.
If it leads to action.
And if it is co-owned by the people who’ve been doing the work all along.
A reminder we are part of something bigger
So let’s return now to Margaret, and her wise words - they feel so fitting for the journey ahead:
Want to get involved?
If you're a community member, industry leader, policymaker or regional changemaker who wants to be part of this shift, please get in touch.
This is the beginning of something different.
