From Risk to Opportunity: Understanding Your Region’s Place in Australia’s Net Zero Transition

Insights from our Climate Policy Exposure Index

Our index highlights that Australia’s transition policies are uneven in their local impacts. Some LGAs are highly exposed to emissions-reduction requirements, while others are better positioned to capture investment in renewables and low-carbon industries.

Key findings include:

• Safeguard facilities: Concentrated in resource and industrial hubs such as the Pilbara, Gladstone, and the Hunter, these sites account for around one-third of the emissions reductions required to 2030.
• CIS and Powering Australia: Driving large-scale renewable investment while accelerating the decline of coal and gas generation, a major transition challenge for traditional energy regions.
• New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES): Beginning to change transport, logistics, and vehicle-dependent sectors through electrification and fuel-efficiency targets.
• Future Made in Australia and CEFC finance: Creating new opportunities for regions with manufacturing capability, critical minerals, and clean-tech potential.
• Land, agriculture and waste policies: Encouraging emissions reduction and carbon sequestration in rural and regional areas, bringing both challenges and opportunities for land-based industries.

Together, these changes are reshaping regional economies.
Understanding your LGA’s exposure is the first step to managing risk, guiding investment, and ensuring your community benefits from Australia’s net zero transition.

 

What this means for your region

Australia’s net zero policies will not impact each region equally. The level of policy exposure depends on each region’s industrial mix, workforce, and capacity to adapt to change.

• High exposure regions (e.g., heavy industry, fossil energy, freight corridors) face the greatest risk from decarbonisation policy and need active transition planning.
• Moderate exposure regions with mixed industry bases can balance risk and opportunity by supporting low-emission manufacturing, recycling, and construction.
• Low exposure or opportunity regions (e.g., renewable hubs, professional service centres) can attract new investment through clean-economy positioning.

What councils can do

Local governments play a crucial role in shaping how their region manages the climate transition. Councils can:

• Map local exposure: Identify which sectors and employers are most affected by national policies.
• Plan for transition: Support workforce retraining, land reuse, and diversification in at-risk sectors.
• Enable clean growth: Invest in enabling infrastructure (renewables, EV charging, recycling).
• Partner and advocate: Collaborate with governments, utilities, and businesses to attract transition funding.
• Engage the community: Build awareness and ensure vulnerable groups aren’t left behind.

 

How we can help

Our Economic Resilience Report provides councils with clear, evidence-based insights to support decision making and support your economy and businesses.

• Targeted analysis of your LGA’s industrial exposure to Australia’s key decarbonisation policies and other macro trends shaping your region, the nation and world.
• Understand your region’s economy, including recent performance, key markets and drivers.
• Benchmarking against other regions to identify risks, resilience, and emerging opportunities, including clean, green and circular economy.
• Assess how you can ensure your local strategies connect with national initiatives on net zero policies.
• Provide practical, evidence-based actionable insights to manage risks and capture opportunities.
• Expert insights & latest data to inform Economic Development Strategy or Investment Attraction Strategy.

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