Lethal Heating: Australia’s Climate Innovations: Technology and Adaptation

Key Points

Australia is using climate technology to manage rising climate risks while reshaping heavy industry and the energy system. 1
National science agencies and startup accelerators are turning research in carbon removal, smart grids, and forecasting into commercial solutions. 2
Industrial regions such as the Hunter are emerging as test beds for green hydrogen and net zero manufacturing. 3
New funds and networks are directing billions of dollars towards decarbonising heavy industry and scaling climate tech across the Indo-Pacific. 4
Climate forecasting and resilience programs are reshaping how governments plan infrastructure and manage disasters. 5
International technology initiatives create new opportunities for Australia to adapt overseas climate solutions and export homegrown innovations. 6

Australia is rapidly becoming a laboratory for climate innovation, as governments, scientists and businesses race to cut emissions while protecting communities from escalating floods, fires and heatwaves.¹

From carbon removal experiments in regional Australia to smart grids that juggle rooftop solar and batteries, new technologies are beginning to change how energy, industry and cities operate.²

Behind these systems are coalitions of researchers, investors and local leaders who are trying to ensure the transition does not leave industrial regions, or vulnerable communities, behind.³

The stakes are high, as Australia has committed to cut emissions 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, goals that require steep reductions in energy, transport and heavy industry within the next decade.⁷

At the same time, climate impacts are intensifying, which led the federal government to commission a national climate and disaster resilience study after the Black Summer bushfires to identify practical options to harden infrastructure and services.⁵

These pressures are driving a wave of public investment, including a proposed $5 billion Net Zero Fund within the National Reconstruction Fund to support industrial decarbonisation and low‑emissions manufacturing.⁴

New alliances such as Climate‑KIC Australia’s Industrial Regions Network and accelerator programs like EnergyLab’s Climate Solutions Accelerator are trying to translate that funding into real projects and jobs on the ground.²

Australia’s climate scientists are also updating high‑resolution projections through the Climate Change in Australia program, giving planners more detailed information about localised temperature, rainfall and fire risk throughout the century.⁶

Internationally, Australia is positioning its climate technologies inside broader Indo‑Pacific initiatives, from regional climate‑tech investor forums to UN‑backed technology transfer networks that support partners in the Pacific and beyond.⁸

Together these efforts are reshaping national climate strategy, yet the coming five years will determine whether innovation can move fast enough to transform high‑emitting sectors while protecting communities already on the front line of climate change.⁷

Leaders behind Australia’s climate push

The architecture of Australia’s climate innovation effort is being built by a mix of scientific leaders, public agencies and private capital, often working in new configurations.

CSIRO, the national science agency, has become a central player, coordinating national climate and disaster resilience research and leading work on smart grids, climate projections and emerging carbon removal technologies.²

Its CarbonLock Future Science Platform, launched in 2022, is funding research into direct air capture, enhanced mineralisation and ocean‑based carbon uptake, with the explicit aim of making large‑scale atmospheric carbon removal technically and economically viable by 2050.²

On the policy side, the federal government has begun to re‑cast industrial strategy around net zero, announcing that a new $5 billion Net Zero Fund will sit inside the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to help large facilities invest in clean equipment, processes and low‑emissions technologies.⁴

The Climate Change Authority’s sector pathways work, underpinned by detailed CSIRO modelling, sets out how heavy industry, transport and other sectors can align with a 43 per cent cut by 2030 and net zero by mid‑century, providing a reference point for ministers and investors.⁷

In the private sector, specialist investors and accelerators, including the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and programs such as EnergyLab’s Climate Solutions Accelerator, are increasingly acting as gatekeepers for climate‑tech capital, shaping which technologies reach demonstration and scale.⁹

EnergyLab reported that its Australian alumni raised $147 million of private capital in 2024, representing roughly one in every four dollars invested in domestic clean energy and climate‑tech startups, an emerging influence on the makeup of the future low‑carbon economy.⁹

Institutions, startups and alliances

Australia’s climate technologies are emerging from a dense ecosystem of research organisations, startups and collaborative alliances that link industry and government.

CSIRO’s role extends from long‑term climate modelling to applied grid innovation, including leading Australia’s participation in the International Energy Agency’s Smart Grids Innovation Challenge, which aims to demonstrate robust megawatt‑scale microgrids capable of hosting 100 per cent renewable power plants by 2030.¹⁰

The Smart Grids project, based in Mayfield West in New South Wales, also positions Australia in international standard‑setting discussions and creates a pathway for local companies to export grid‑integration expertise and products.¹⁰

Climate‑KIC Australia operates at the systems level, convening multi‑stakeholder collaborations such as the Industrial Regions Network, which brings together industrial regions, governments, civil society and researchers to share decarbonisation strategies and scale up practical projects.¹¹

Climate‑KIC also partnered with Climateworks Centre on the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative, which has mapped techno‑economic pathways for decarbonising key supply chains including steel, aluminium, liquefied natural gas and chemicals, and highlighted where new technology investment is most urgent.¹²

At the startup end, EnergyLab’s 2024 Climate Solutions Accelerator cohort includes companies working on industrial heat, passive cooling, energy storage and even electric aviation, reflecting how climate innovation is extending well beyond the power sector into hard‑to‑abate areas.⁹

HolonIQ’s Indo‑Pacific Climate Tech 100, announced alongside an investor forum in Singapore, underscores that many Australian ventures are now embedded in regional markets, with the 100 companies across 14 countries collectively valued at more than US$20 billion and employing over 12,000 people in green jobs.¹³

Carbon capture, smart grids and forecasting

Among the most closely watched technologies in Australia are those that promise to clean up existing emissions sources while enabling a more flexible, climate‑resilient energy system.

CSIRO’s CarbonLock program is exploring a portfolio of carbon dioxide removal options, from direct air capture and enhanced mineralisation to ocean‑based approaches and biomineralisation, on the premise that technological removals will be needed alongside deep emissions cuts to reach net zero.²

While large‑scale deployment remains distant, the research is already influencing discussions about future negative emissions industries in regional Australia, including potential synergies with mining, agriculture and marine sectors.²

On the grid side, the Smart Grids Innovation Challenge has become a focal point for integrating high levels of variable renewables, storage and demand response, with the goal of making microgrids both technically robust and economically attractive in diverse Australian conditions.¹⁰

This work complements state‑based initiatives, such as the Australian Capital Territory’s Integrated Energy Plan, which relies heavily on distributed solar, batteries and electrification to support its ambition of becoming an all‑electric city over the next two decades.¹⁴

In the realm of climate intelligence, the Climate Change in Australia program has produced a new generation of nationally consistent climate simulations, combining work from CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and several state agencies to deliver detailed regional projections that underpin infrastructure and land‑use planning.⁶

These projections, together with CSIRO’s climate and disaster resilience report, are feeding into efforts to redesign warning systems, strengthen buildings and coordinate disaster response across jurisdictions after a series of severe fire seasons and floods.⁵

Industrial regions, vulnerable communities and Indo‑Pacific links

The transition is most visible in industrial regions, where new climate technologies intersect with long‑standing dependence on fossil fuel jobs and infrastructure.

The Hunter region in New South Wales, long a coal and heavy industry hub, is emerging as a key trial ground, with the state and federal governments jointly committing more than $100 million to the Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub at the Port of Newcastle, led by Origin Energy Future Fuels and Orica.³

Project documents indicate the hub aims to install around 50 megawatts of electrolyser capacity in its initial phase, producing thousands of tonnes of renewable hydrogen per year and abating an estimated 195,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 while creating up to 150 construction jobs.³

The Climate Tech Industry Report, prepared with support from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, notes that regional hubs such as the Hunter and New South Wales’ North Coast are becoming focal points for climate‑tech firms that want to recruit in regional and rural communities traditionally dependent on emissions‑intensive industries.¹⁵

Climate‑KIC’s Industrial Regions Network is designed in part to ensure these areas can share strategies and avoid a patchwork of uncoordinated projects, by connecting local governments, industry and community groups working on decarbonisation and resilience.¹¹

Across the economy, analysis prepared for the Climate Change Authority finds that heavy industry, electricity, transport and parts of agriculture must accelerate innovation most sharply to align with 2035 and 2050 decarbonisation pathways, with particular emphasis on industrial supply chains that produce steel, aluminium and liquefied natural gas.⁷

For vulnerable groups, including some rural, coastal and Indigenous communities, the core challenge is making sure climate innovation is not only about emissions but also about locally appropriate adaptation, which is why resilience planning frameworks increasingly stress co‑design, data access and learning across jurisdictions.⁵

Australia’s innovation story is also outward‑facing, as global technology transfer initiatives create channels for knowledge and investment to flow across the Indo‑Pacific.

The UN Climate Technology Centre and Network, which has implemented hundreds of technical assistance projects since 2013 and leveraged about US$1.24 billion in finance, is working with partners in the Pacific on climate‑resilient agriculture, green buildings and AI‑based coral reef monitoring, a set of themes that align closely with Australian expertise.¹⁶

In parallel, the Indo‑Pacific Climate Tech 100 and associated clean‑economy investor forums are explicitly designed to channel capital into climate‑tech firms across 14 Indo‑Pacific partner countries, positioning Australian companies as both adopters and exporters of solutions, from grid software and storage to resilient infrastructure designs.¹³

Learning from global best practice and urban farming

Australia’s climate‑tech trajectory is informed by overseas examples, particularly in sectors where early adopters have already tested policy and deployment models.

Countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands have developed national hydrogen and Power‑to‑X strategies that combine public tenders, infrastructure support and industrial partnerships to build export‑oriented green hydrogen value chains, providing templates for how Australia might integrate similar projects with its own renewable and industrial base.¹⁷

International energy reviews also note the importance of interconnections and flexible markets in enabling very high shares of wind and solar, lessons that resonate with Australia’s push to modernise its grids and inter‑state transmission links.¹⁸

Urban farming offers another strand of global learning, particularly for cities seeking to strengthen food security and climate resilience at the same time.

Australian research, including work by the Institute for Sustainable Futures on Sydney’s food futures, has shown how peri‑urban agriculture can reduce food miles, buffer against fuel price shocks and provide local employment, even as urban expansion places pressure on productive land around major cities.¹⁹

Surveys of urban agriculture in cities such as Melbourne, Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong point to the value of mapping food production, identifying “food deserts” and integrating community gardens, rooftop farms and other small‑scale operations into broader planning and health policies.²⁰

For global cities, the emerging lesson from these Australian examples is that urban farming should be treated not as a lifestyle add‑on but as part of a wider climate adaptation strategy, supported by spatial planning, infrastructure and data about local food systems.¹⁹

What regional planners must do next

The next five years will be decisive for regional planners and policymakers who are trying to reduce long‑term climate risk while protecting livelihoods.

Evidence from Australia’s sector pathways work, regional hydrogen hubs and resilience studies indicates that regions need integrated plans that align industrial decarbonisation, infrastructure upgrades, skills programs and community engagement, rather than treating each as a separate project.³⁵⁷

In practical terms, that means using the latest climate projections to stress‑test investments, prioritising funding for technologies that cut emissions and build resilience in the most exposed sectors and communities, and tapping into international technology networks so that regional Australia can adapt proven solutions quickly while exporting its own climate innovations to neighbours across the Indo‑Pacific.⁶¹³¹⁶

References

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29/12/2025

Australia’s Climate Innovations: Technology and Adaptation - Lethal Heating Editor BDA