The Path to Clean Energy

The report analyzes renewable energy policies in Germany, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, the United States, and South Africa to determine how legislation can enable energy democracy and community benefits. It finds that while mechanisms like feed-in tariffs (ReFITs) and local procurement rules can drive capacity and job growth, their success is heavily dependent on the existing energy market structure, regulatory simplicity, and the protection of indigenous land rights.

• Germany's use of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) of 2000 and a government-set renewable-energy feed-in tariff (ReFIT) successfully promoted community energy by providing 20-year contracts, price certainty, and preferential grid access, resulting in over 896 community energy initiatives by 2020.
• The transition in Germany from a guaranteed feed-in tariff to an energy-auction system in 2017 led to a decline in community energy initiatives because smaller bottom-up projects had to compete on price with larger operators.
• A comparison between the Philippines and Indonesia shows that ReFITs are more effective in unbundled energy ecosystems; the Philippines saw capacity grow from 153 MW in 2013 to 1,537 MW in 2017, while Indonesia's state-dominated sector and complex, changing tariffs resulted in capacity only growing from 31 MW in 2012 to 67.8 MW in 2016.
• In Australia, the Native Title Act of 1993 provides indigenous parties leverage through a "right to negotiate" for certain future acts, though large-scale renewable energy projects are excluded from this regime, leaving traditional owners to rely on voluntary Indigenous Land Use Agreements.
• The United States' Indian Tribal Energy and Self-Determination Act (ITEDSA) of 2005 failed to produce any agreements by 2015 due to regulatory complexity, mismanagement, and a lack of tribal capacity, leading tribes to prefer the more streamlined HEATH Act of 2012.
• South Africa's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REI4P) successfully used local procurement requirements to drive economic development, contracting 92 projects since 2011 and delivering 23,475 jobs across 56 projects by March 2017.
• Despite the success of South Africa's REI4P in reducing costs—with wind prices dropping by 46% and solar by 71%—the program struggles with low local community ownership, which has only reached 2.5% of shares.

APA

Field, T.-L. (2024). The Path to Clean Energy. Natural Justice. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/NJ_The-Path-to-clean-energy_v4_Handover.pdf

Chicago

Field, Tracy-Lynn. The Path to Clean Energy. Natural Justice, 2024. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/NJ_The-Path-to-clean-energy_v4_Handover.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Field |first1=Tracy-Lynn |title=The Path to Clean Energy |publisher=Natural Justice |date=2024 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/NJ_The-Path-to-clean-energy_v4_Handover.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{field2024path, author = {Field, Tracy-Lynn}, title = {{The Path to Clean Energy}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, year = {2024}, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/NJ_The-Path-to-clean-energy_v4_Handover.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }