The decision by the Federal Government to expand the Commercial Building Disclosure (CBD) scheme and improve the Equipment Energy Efficiency (E3) program has been welcomed by the Property Council of Australia.
“We are longstanding supporters of the CBD program and support lowering the threshold for mandatory disclosure from 2,000m2 to 1,000m2”, said Ken Morrison, Chief Executive of the Property Council of Australia.
“This scheme has led to improvements in energy efficiency as well as a reduction in emissions across the commercial office market. It has also strengthened the market for high-performing buildings.”
“At first glance, the CBD scheme seems to increase the compliance burden, but the industry’s experience is that it creates significant benefits that far outweigh the costs.
“The expansion of the scheme to capture smaller buildings is a great initiative and we will see the benefits flow through.
“Australia’s property industry are world leaders when it comes to energy efficiency in the commercial office sector, our top performers are consistently rated the world’s best in global sustainability real estate indices such as GRESB.”
ASBEC’s Low Carbon High Performance report states that buildings can deliver 28% of Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction target and over 50% of Australia’s national energy productivity target if the right policies are put in place to support strong action.
Mr Morrison said the expansion of the CBD program and improvements to the E3 program are good steps that will help the built environment achieve its emissions reduction targets.
“Reducing emissions requires sustained improvement across the economy and we look forward to continuing to work closely with Australia’s policy makers to ensure the measures outlined in Low Carbon, High Performance are adopted.”