Property industry needs certainty on energy policy
As politicians provide conditional support for the National Energy Guarantee, the property industry continues to call for certainty, leadership and depoliticised energy policy.
On Friday, federal environment and energy minister Josh Frydenberg gained conditional support from COAG energy ministers to progress the mechanism for the NEG, which aims to solve Australia’s energy ‘trilemma’ by driving down emissions while ensuring affordable and reliable energy supply.
While Labor governments in Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory continued to express objections, the ministers agreed to allow a month of consultation on crucial legislation required to make changes to national energy market rules.
Yesterday, Frydenberg took this legislation supporting the scheme to the Coalition party room. The Coalition signed off on the NEG after two hours of debate, although some MPs reserved their right to cross the floor when the legislation comes to parliament.
The Property Council’s chief executive Ken Morrison says the NEG is Australia’s best opportunity to “depoliticise energy policy and to integrate energy and climate policy”.
“The reality is that the NEG is the only realistic framework on the table. The alternative to moving forward with the NEG framework is to have no framework and no certainty, and that approach has failed the country for too long,” Morrison says.
“This lack of certainty has seen big price rises across the board, something that property owners know only too well.”
Francesca Muskovic, the Property Council’s policy manager for sustainability and regulatory affairs, has been leading an industry energy policy roundtable, says the level of ambition in the emissions reduction target proposed for the NEG by the government is not sufficient to meet Australia’s obligations under the Paris Agreement.
“Australia has effectively committed to reach net zero emissions by 20. The built environment comprises 23 per cent of Australia’s emissions, over half Australia’s electricity consumption and represents some of the lowest cost emissions abatement,” she says.
“Our industry leads the world in the design and development of sustainable buildings, and many companies have established targets to meet carbon neutrality or net zero emissions well before 20. But companies need policy certainty to drive investment in technologies that will achieve these targets.”
One of these leading companies is The GPT Group, which has slashed the emissions intensity of its property portfolio by 61 per cent since 2005, reducing estimated energy costs by more than $20 million each year.
Steve Ford, The GPT Group’s head of sustainability and energy, says his company was an “early mover” in emissions reduction, and is on track to be carbon neutral before 2030.
Among the practical measures The GPT Group has taken include “the installation of on-site renewable generation, such as solar PV on our retail and logistics assets,” Ford explains.
Others include “lighting upgrades, motion and light level sensor, improved controls and upgrades to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems”. The company has implemented a “widespread monitoring and corrective actions program that identifies and rectifies any unexpected energy consumption,” Ford says.
“An energy policy that has the support of the federal, state and territory governments will eliminate the major source of uncertainty for GPT to plan and execute its target of being carbon neutral.”
Morrison urges Australia’s politicians to “quit the partisan and ideological point-scoring” and instead “work together in the national interest to support a policy framework which can deliver certainty on the supply and cost of energy for Australian households, business and industry”.
Download the Property Council’s submissions to the Australian Government and Energy Security Board in response to consultation on the detailed design of the National Energy Guarantee.