We have long known how the environmental approval process under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) is slowing down the nation’s net zero transformation, but just by how much?
On 4 August, the Productivity Commission (PC) released its interim report Investing in Cheaper, Cleaner Energy and the Net Zero Transformation. While the interim report investigated productivity across the clean energy sector, perhaps its most notable finding related to the inefficiency of Australia’s current approval process for renewable energy projects.1
The interim report points to results from surveys carried out in research led by the Clean Energy Investor Group (CEIG). The CEIG’s July 2025 survey of clean energy developers and investors identified that planning and environmental assessments are two of the top four challenges experienced in renewable energy development. The CEIG’s 2024 report also identified that it typically takes years for final decision for EPBC Act referred projects, with one project noted to be under assessment for over 800 days.
In Australia, most large renewable energy projects require two sets of approvals. While the states have their own laws governing land-use planning, development, the environment and cultural heritage, projects must also be approved under the EPBC Act if they have, will have, or are likely to have a significant impact on threatened species, Ramsar wetlands, migratory birds, World Heritage Sites or other ‘matters of national environmental significance’.2
In a statement concerning the recent interim report, the Productivity Commissioner, Mark Stokie, criticised the environmental approval process faced by renewable energy projects under the EPBC Act for being “sluggish and uncertain”. This kind of commentary is not new, and echoes the conclusions of the first Hawke Review in 2009,3 the second review in 2019 and made public in 2021 by Professor Graham Samuel,4 and more recently the words of former Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, in his address to the National Press Club.
While some changes to the EPBC Act have been recently passed, including amendments to introduce the Nature Repair Market in 2023 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Reconsiderations) Act 2025 in March,5 substantive reforms to address the serious issues with the Act continue to stagnate. The PC’s report reaffirmed the need to implement the proposed reforms to the Act set out in the Samuel Review to make the environmental approval process clearer and faster for developers of renewable energy projects.6
Proposed reforms to the EPBC Act
The interim report requested “more consistent and predictable” EPBC Act decisions,7 supporting the introduction of clearer and enforceable environmental standards, particularly, “matters of national environmental significance, engagement with local communities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, regional planning and environmental offsets”.8
The interim report also recommended that the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) form a “strike team” and appoint “an independent Clean Energy Coordinator-General” to focus on the assessment and oversight high priority renewable projects. With 56 projects identified in the National Renewable Energy Priority List in March 2025, the PC maintains that such reforms would provide high priority Australian projects “with the attention they need to progress efficiently through the [EPBC] assessment process”.
According to the Productivity Commissioner, Mark Stokie, the “overdue reforms to the EPBC Act would both speed up approvals and better protect the environment”.
In turn, faster environmental approvals are expected to reduce costs for project proponents by cutting delays, overheads and compliance burdens, potentially saving millions per project.9 Further, reforms to assessment processes delaying construction would accelerate the rollout of clean energy infrastructure, lower electricity prices, and deliver broader economic benefits through improved energy reliability, emissions reduction, and productivity growth. The PC has stated that it will seek to model these benefits as part of its final report.
Have your say
The Productivity Commission is inviting written submissions on its interim report from individuals, businesses and organisations by 15 September 2025.
Find out how to make a submission and have your say here.
We will provide further insights and updates once the final report Investing in Cheaper, Cleaner Energy and the Net Zero Transformation has been published.
The Hamilton Locke team advises across the full energy project life cycle, including project development, grid connection, financing and construction, as well as the buying and selling of development and operating projects. For more information, please contact Matt Baumgurtel and Amelia Prokuda.
1Productivity Commission, Investing in cheaper, cleaner energy and the net zero transformation (Interim Report, Canberra, August 2025) 36.
2Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) ch 2 pt 3 div 1.
3Allan Hawke, The Australian Environment Act: Report of the Independent review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Final Report, 30 October 2009).
4Professor Graeme Samuel, Independent Review of the EPBC Act – Final Report (Final Report, 28 January 2021).
5Nature Repair (Consequential Amendments) Act 2023; Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Reconsiderations) Act 2025.
6Productivity Commission, Investing in cheaper, cleaner energy and the net zero transformation (Interim Report, Canberra, August 2025) 1, 37.
7Productivity Commission, Investing in cheaper, cleaner energy and the net zero transformation (Interim Report, Canberra, August 2025) 38.
8Ibid 38-39.
9Productivity Commission, Investing in cheaper, cleaner energy and the net zero transformation (Interim Report, Canberra, August 2025) 51.
