The ten principles have been developed to support First Nations communities that are involved in the development of clean energy projects which are on or near their land.  The Principles will be useful to all groups involved in the development of energy projects. 

The Principles are summarised as follows:

1. Engage respectfully: Throughout clean energy developments, investors must ensure that they maintain respectful communication with First Nations people. The establishment of a respectful relationship will help in building meaningful relationships when negotiating sharing agreements, timelines, and agendas.  The standard of ‘free, prior and informed consent’ must apply throughout engagement with First Nations communities. This maintains that consent assumes the opportunity to approve or reject potential projects.
2. Prioritise clear, accessible, and accurate information: Information about the nature, design, impact, and construction of a clean energy project must be given to First Nations people in an appropriate format. Reasonable requests from the community must be considered and acted on by companies and developers.
3. Ensure cultural heritage is preserved and protected: There must be a sense of commitment to cultural heritage preservation and protection built into the systems and ways in which clean energy projects are constructed and delivered.
4. Protect country and environment: Every project should have a land and environmental protection plan, developed collaboratively with First Nations communities. Companies must respect the way in which the First Nations people have protected and cared for their land over the years. 
5. Be a good neighbour: The First Nations community must be aware about the project’s potential visual, noise and traffic impacts that it might have on the community.  
6. Ensure economic benefits are shared: Sharing benefits include owning a stake in the project, rental payments for the use of land. Where possible and desired by First Nations, employ First Nations people.
7. Provide social benefits for the local community: Providing reliable renewable energy can help improve health, social, economic and educational outcomes.
8. Embed land stewardship: A project should not only seek to do no harm, it should also aspire to enhance the ecological, cultural, and agricultural value of the land. 
9. Ensure cultural competency: Companies and developers should have knowledge of the local culture and heritage to ensure companies have a meaningful relationship with First Nations people.
10. Implement, monitor and report back: Companies should structure their project’s development lifecycle around a commitment to the First Nations people. This will aim to ensure that the proper implementation of commitments take place.   

1. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have the necessary means and ability to self-determine their own futures to help better protect the land which they have fostered for generations. 
2. The Principles are centralised around the First Nations people and their communities to ensure their meaningful inclusion in the development, design, implementation, and benefit sharing of medium to large scale clean energy projects. However, the Principles also prove useful for all groups involved in clean energy projects as it ensures that people can work cooperatively to the common goal of renewable energy. They could also prove useful to governments who could potentially utilise these Principles when assessing clean energy developments. 
3. First Nations people have been using renewable energy on a much smaller scale than the rest of the Australian community for decades. However, large scale renewable energy projects are quite new for First Nations communities. The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy will impact numerous projects involving First Nations.  
4. The standard of “free, prior and informed consent” when engaging with First Nations people is affirmed by various international human rights instruments. It ensures that the community must have the ability to give consent without coercion before the commencement of a project and must be based on accurate information.
5. First Nations people may often have cultural rights and obligations to care for the country and their land. This could include having the access to cultural sites, as well as access to the project sites of different developments. This makes it important for companies to respond positively and promptly to various access requests submitted by First Nations peoples.
6. First Nations people should be able to collaborate with the development of every project with an environmental protection plan. This would allow for the ongoing management, implementation, and enforcement of the plan.
7. A project should aim to improve the ecological, cultural, and agricultural value of the land. This could be achieved through the creation of a program that funds rangers to deal with feral species to reinstate local wildlife habitats of significance.
8. It is important for companies to have regular cultural competency training embedded in their governance structure. This can help to ensure companies develop and maintain meaningful relationships with the First Nations people, as well as the land.
9. The First Nations community should be properly and promptly provided with detailed reports about the implementation of all projects, commitments, and reviews as part of a continuous improvement process. Once the First Nations community has reviewed the process, it should be included in the company’s reports and announcements .