A LEADING energy scientist has sent a dire warning to cane growers, and it had nothing to do with electricity prices.

Farmers could be caught up in social activism, similar to the Stop Adani campaigns gripping the country, Professor Chris Grieg said.

Prof Grieg, who specialises in energy systems, was a keynote speaker at the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists Conference in Mackay yesterday.

He said a short-term risk with climate change, for industry, is 'snowballing activism'.

"The Adani case is a classic - where we've seen an absolutely intense focus on one company as the face of environmental activism.

If the international environmentalist community focused on the Great Barrier Reef as a beacon for the impact of climate change, then cane growers could get caught up in that activism, he warned.

"They have become extremely sophisticated, extremely powerful when they have a cause in mind.

"The Great Barrier Reef will be a target, especially as climate change affects the reef. You have to be aware of the sugar industry getting caught up in that."

Prof Grieg said while there were models, there were many unknowns about the consequences of CO2 emissions and climate change, including social-economic impacts.

"(When the) OECD report came out it put a lot of pressure on us from the government and the community.

"At the moment the sugar industry is on the side of it, the coal industry is bearing the brunt of it (activism).

"Eventually it could be tagged to the sugar industry."

The sugar industry had to be proactive and engaged to deal with activism if it arose, Prof Grieg said.

It had been seen before in the energy sector in the United States, with shale gas and coal.

The Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists annual conference will be at the MECC until Friday.