A case for place in governing the energy–environment nexus

The energy–environment policy landscape is complex, involving wicked problems and difficult choices that inevitably comprise trade-offs and potentially unintended consequences in deciding whether natural resources should be exploited or preserved. This complexity is only compounded in a climate-changed, yet energy-ravenous, world. In many jurisdictions, the planning and assessment of energy developments – spanning fossil fuels and renewables – has encountered significant opposition from landholders and communities. Conflict has arisen in some cases over whether energy projects should be approved at the state or federal level, considering the broader distribution of the benefits and burdens of development; or whether local communities (through municipal government processes) should have the power to determine whether to accept the impacts and risks of energy development at the local scale. Local opposition is frequently dismissed with the reductionist Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) label, yet the adequacy of the NIMBY explanation in the case of energy development has received growing attention in the academic literature (Devine-Wright 2009; Jacquet and Stedman 2014). In particular, scholars have identified multifaceted enviro-social factors, such as disruption to place attachment and values, as powerful drivers of resistance to proposed energy developments (Devine-Wright 2013; Luke et al. 2018). In some cases, opposition has persisted because of perceived inadequacies in the ways that energy decision-making processes engage with and evaluate such complex place-based concerns. While assessment processes may attempt to capture the various economic, environmental and social impacts of a proposed development, they frequently do so in ways that invisibilise the deeper sense of place invested in particular landscapes (Kennedy 2017; Masterson et al. 2017; Sangaramoorthy et al. 2016). Through an analysis of energy development assessment processes in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, this chapter explores the ways in which the governance of the energy– environment nexus has grappled with place. It begins with a review of the concept of place, and the importance of accounting for sense of place in the governance of energy development. The governance landscape of energy development in NSW is then surveyed, evaluating the capacity for assessment processes to meaningfully consider place-based impacts. The chapter then considers an alternative governance option that extends opportunities for co-production, continuous monitoring and improvement, and which may be able to better reveal and account for sense of place in responding to the energy–environment nexus.