Australia hasn’t signed up to the Global Cooling Pledge – but that doesn’t mean HVAC is off the hook. Our two biggest states are looking straight ahead at ambitious emissions reductions by 2035 – and that puts buildings back in the spotlight.
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Most people working in the heating, ventilation, cooling and refrigeration (HVAC&R) sector are familiar with the statistics. HVAC&R already generates around 12 per cent of Australia’s emissions and consumes a quarter of the nation’s electricity. As the climate warms, we are caught in a vicious cycle of cranking up the airconditioning, creating more emissions and making the planet even hotter.
The United Nations Environment Program has found cooling will pump an additional 132 gigatonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere between now and 2050. The Global Cooling Pledge sets a collective global target to reduce emissions from cooling by 68 per cent by 2050 and, among other commitments, aims to increase the global average efficiency of new airconditioners by 50 per cent.
The mountain we need to climb between now and 2035 is steep.
Australia didn’t sign up to the Pledge at COP28, and the pressure will be on to address this at COP29 in November 2024 at Azerbaijan. Even more crucial to the HVAC sector is the national target that Australia must take to the global gathering.
As a signatory to the Paris Agreement, Australia is required to update our “nationally determined contribution” every five years. This means formulating a new medium-term emissions reduction target for 2035 and announcing this by the end of 2024. Australia has bent the emissions curve, but we are still emitting more than 465 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. The mountain we need to climb between now and 2035 is steep.
Australia’s three most populous states have already legislated 2035 carbon reduction targets. The Victorian government’s 2035 climate action target, which is 75-80 per cent below 2005 levels, means almost doubling the emissions reduction in just five years. New South Wales has enshrined a 70 per cent reduction by 2035 target, as well as the Paris aligned goal of net zero by 2050. And Queensland has a 75 per cent emissions reduction by 2035 target.
Six sectoral plans coming from the Australian government
Meanwhile, the Australian government is working on sectoral plans for six critical sectors, one of which is the built environment. The significance of these sectoral plans cannot be understated. First and foremost, sectoral plans will focus collective efforts on highest value actions.
These efforts must be underpinned by robust rating systems for equipment, best practice design, installation and commissioning, and effective maintenance regimes.
In the building sector, we already know energy efficiency is the highest value action and the most cost-efficient way to cut emissions. The Energy Efficiency Council estimates that 19 per cent of Australia’s emissions reductions between now and 2030 will come from energy efficiency alone.
Together, as an industry, we must focus on upgrading our technology, electrifying our assets, installing more renewables, and matching demand to supply. But as AIRAH notes, these efforts must be underpinned by robust rating systems for equipment, best practice design, installation and commissioning, and effective maintenance regimes.
A sectoral plan for the built environment will also give us a better picture of the problem. Currently, Australia’s carbon accounting doesn’t provide separate figures for building emissions. Instead, some building emissions are bundled in with “energy”, others with “industry”.
Disaggregating emissions into different buckets has been confusing and depowering. As we know from 20 years of working with NABERS, measurement leads to better management. Australia’s building sector needs to see exactly where we stand.
With a roadmap for emissions reduction laid out, and most of Australia’s economy now covered by 2035 targets, net zero is no longer abstract. Building owners looking at their capex (capital expenditure) budgets today must have one eye firmly fixed on 2035.
There’s a lot for HVAC industry to unpack.
These are some of the issues that will be covered at ARBS 2024, this year from 28-30 May, with more than 300 exhibitors and more than 8000-plus visitors expected at the International Convention Centre Sydney. The event will spotlight the best energy-efficient and sustainable HVAC solutions, alongside a packed seminar program that will turn up the heat on HVAC.