European Energy has signed a series of 30-year Cultural Heritage Management Agreements and Shared Prosperity Agreements with the First Nations group FNBGGGTB in Queensland, Australia.

Long-Term Agreements Formalise Partnership in Queensland

The agreements strengthen the framework for developing three solar and battery projects in the region and were announced by the Copenhagen-headquartered company on 21 October 2026.

The agreements cover the company's Bullyard, Upper Calliope and Tyrone projects. They build on an initial Exclusivity Agreement signed in 2024, which established a framework for investigating potential development sites.

The new project-specific agreements go further, setting out long-term arrangements for cultural heritage protection and financial contributions to the Traditional Owners throughout the projects' lifespan.

The FNBGGGTB Group represents the Bailai, Gurang, Gooreng Gooreng and Taribelang Bunda peoples, the Traditional Owners and native title holders of the Bundaberg and Gladstone regions of Queensland.

Under the new arrangements, cultural heritage management and benefit-sharing are linked directly to the three renewable energy projects located within the areas where these peoples hold native title.

Two Types of Agreements, Two Distinct Functions

The package signed by the two parties consists of two complementary instruments. The Cultural Heritage Management Agreements establish processes to identify and protect culturally important sites and artefacts during project development. This gives the Traditional Owners a formal role in safeguarding sites of significance as the solar and battery projects move forward.

The Shared Prosperity Agreements, meanwhile, provide long-term funding to support social, cultural and environmental initiatives determined by the Traditional Owners themselves. Because the agreements run for 30 years, the financial contributions are designed to extend across the operating life of the projects rather than being limited to the construction phase.

Together, the two sets of agreements establish long-term frameworks for cultural heritage protection and financial contributions to Traditional Owner communities, and they are intended to provide benefits across generations.

Company Perspective: Long-Term Cooperation as a Development Principle

Catriona McLeod, Managing Director of European Energy Australia, said that developing renewable energy projects requires long-term cooperation with the communities and landholders involved.

She noted that the agreements establish a framework for progressing the company's projects while protecting cultural heritage and ensuring that the Traditional Owners share in the benefits generated over the lifetime of the projects.

McLeod added that, for European Energy, establishing these partnerships is an important part of developing a renewable energy portfolio in Australia. In her view, the agreements reflect the company's long-term approach to project development and its commitment to working closely with Traditional Owners.

The agreements also strengthen what the company describes as its long-term partnership with Traditional Owners in Queensland, and they support European Energy's continued development of its Australian renewable energy portfolio, which combines solar generation and battery storage with long-term partnerships in the regions where its projects are located.

Traditional Owners see the Renewables Transition as an Opportunity

The FNBGGGTB Group has worked with European Energy for more than three years, and Matthew Cooke, Group Chief Executive Officer of the FNBGGGTB Group, said the relationship has gone from strength to strength over that time.

He observed that he and his organisation have been working with European Energy for three or four years now, and that the renewables transition offers exciting opportunities for First Nations people.

According to Cooke, partnerships of this kind allow First Nations people to maximise those opportunities. The 30-year term of the agreements is intended to ensure that the benefits generated by the Bullyard, Upper Calliope and Tyrone projects flow to the Bailai, Gurang, Gooreng Gooreng and Taribelang Bunda peoples over an extended period, supporting initiatives that the Traditional Owners themselves determine.

Industry Recognition for the Partnership

The collaboration between European Energy and the FNBGGGTB Group has already received recognition within the Australian renewable energy sector. In 2025, the Clean Energy Council awarded the two organisations its First Nations Engagement and Participation Award, acknowledging the partnership ahead of the formalisation of the current agreements.

That recognition followed the initial Exclusivity Agreement of 2024 and the more than three years of cooperation between the company and the Traditional Owner group.

The award is cited by both parties as evidence of the strength of the working relationship that has now been extended through the 30-year Cultural Heritage Management Agreements and Shared Prosperity Agreements.

European Energy's Australian portfolio

The signing marks the latest step in a progression that began with the 2024 Exclusivity Agreement and has now matured into binding, project-specific arrangements for three named projects.

Where the earlier agreement created a framework for investigating potential development sites, the new agreements attach concrete obligations and benefits to the Bullyard, Upper Calliope and Tyrone projects specifically.

The agreements form part of European Energy's broader approach to developing renewable energy projects in Australia. The company describes its model as combining solar generation and battery storage with long-term partnerships in the regions where its projects are located, with the Queensland agreements presented as an example of that approach in practice.

The announcement was made from Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 October 2026, and positions the company's Queensland operations as anchored in formal, multi-decade arrangements with the Traditional Owners of the Bundaberg and Gladstone regions.

For the FNBGGGTB Group, the agreements lock in both cultural heritage protections during development and a stream of funding for social, cultural and environmental initiatives over the 30-year term, with decisions about how that funding is used resting with the Traditional Owners themselves.

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