Next week world leaders will descend on Glasgow for COP26, the UN’s global climate change conference.
It’s not just the planet’s climate that is changing. The politics are too. The federal government has now wrangled itself to a new approach to net zero – a welcome step forward – backed by a new plan announced yesterday.
Meanwhile, the property industry continues to demonstrate how to reduce emissions without compromising economic outcomes. Australia’s property industry has been a world leader in emissions reductions in the built environment, having spent more than a decade on top of the global real estate sustainability benchmark index.
Despite this success, there is a lot more to do. Indeed, buildings account for more than 50% of electricity use in Australia and almost a quarter of emissions, so our industry will need to be a big part of the solution. Thankfully, the built environment also represents some of the economy’s least-cost abatement opportunities.
The Property Council has been working with our allies in the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council to promote five policy areas to drive emissions reductions in the property sector:
- Give households the energy performance information they need to achieve healthy, affordable, comfortable homes.
- Demonstrate government leadership through high performing government buildings.
- Position Australia as a global leader in high performance building products and technologies.
- Provide economic stimulus by incentivising building upgrades.
- Deliver a Net Zero Carbon Ready building code and pathways to decarbonise building operations.
As the federal government embarks on policies to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, the Property Council will continue to promote cost-effective ways to set the industry up to succeed during this transition.