It is vital that the building and construction sector continues to work towards decarbonisation. Decarbonisation of the building and construction sector is not new. It has often been at the forefront of policy and innovation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia.
Since the early 2000s, the Building Code of Australia (now part of the National Construction Code) has included requirements to improve the energy efficiency of buildings.
These requirements have been incrementally ramped up, with the intention of reaching near net-zero or net-zero emission buildings.
These changes can only be achieved through innovations in building and construction methods and materials that will enable buildings to operate efficiently through renewable energy sources and/or passively.
A number of organisations have emerged in Australia, with counterparts internationally, to advocate for the decarbonisation of the building and construction sector. These organisations advocate for change to policymakers and, in some cases, provide assistance to developers.
This includes the Green Building Council of Australia, the Australian Sustainability and Built Environment Council, and most recently, the Materials and Embodied Carbon Leadership Alliance (MECLA).
The establishment of MECLA illustrates a move beyond the operational use of energy in buildings. The focus has now shifted to the embodied energy that goes into materials and products used in their fabrication and their life cycle (which focuses on resources used in production through their ability to be recycled, reused and re-purposed).
Again, these are not new themes. They have been canvassed in international fora, including past Conferences of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Stepping beyond the spotlight of the annual COP event, Australia attended the March 2024 Buildings and Climate Global Forum (BCGF) in Paris, co-hosted by France and the United Nations Environment Program. Notably, the event had support from the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction and the International Code Council, including chief executive officer Dominic Sims.
Unlike the groups that gather at COP, the BCGF was specifically aimed at gathering building and construction ministers (or equivalent) to collaborate in a new and much more global way to address a targeted problem.
“The Forum gathered for the first time, ministers and high-level representatives of key organisations, to initiate a new impetus in international collaboration for building decarbonisation and resilience after the COP 28:
– Buildings and Climate Global Forum (unep.org)
The March 2024 forum followed the Buildings Breakthrough initiative, which was endorsed by a number of countries at COP 28. This initiative aims to strengthen international collaboration on decarbonising the building and construction sector. The goal is to achieve near-zero emissions and resilient buildings by 2030.
To achieve this goal, regulatory settings and accessible and affordable technologies are required.
At the end of the Buildings and Climate Global Forum, 70 countries, including Australia, signed the Ministerial Declaration, known as the Declaration de Chaillot.
The declaration references a number of agreed facts published by international organisations, which include that the building and construction sector is responsible for 34 per cent of energy demand and approximately 37 per cent of energy-related CO2 emissions.
It also recognised the impacts of global warming on extreme weather events and the need to improve the resilience of the built environment to minimise societal impacts.
The demand for raw materials is increasing. With the world’s rapid urbanisation, there will be an estimated doubling of floor area needed by 2060 to 230 billion square metres, and the resultant waste generated from the construction and demolition of buildings is estimated to be around 100 billion tonnes annually.
With the world’s rapid urbanisation, there will be an estimated doubling of floor area needed by 2060 to 230 billion square metre, and the resultant waste generated from the construction and demolition of buildings is estimated to be around 100 billion tonnes annually.
Importantly, the declaration highlighted that the energy unit intensity of the global building sector is 15 per cent higher than what is needed to keep the rise in global average temperatures to less than 1.5 degrees.
To achieve this target, the energy unit intensity will need to be reduced by 5 per cent every year to 2030, almost seven times faster than during the 2015 – 2022 period.
Nine things countries committed to
The declaration takes into account that not all countries are at the same point in their journey towards decarbonisation. While non-binding, the signatories to the declaration, including Australia, committed to:
- implementing roadmaps, regulatory frameworks, and mandatory building and energy codes to move towards carbon-neutral buildings
- implementing an appropriate financial framework with financial and fiscal incentives and regulatory tools to increase the share of resilient, near-zero emission, and affordable buildings
- promoting the adoption of labels, standards, and certifications
- leading by example by adopting ambitious policies regarding public procurement
- promoting the production, development, and use of low-carbon, durable, and cost-effective construction materials
- promoting collaborative value chains, as well as research and development of innovative solutions
- improving skills by strengthening local know-how, considering mitigation and adaptation strategies
- developing multi-level governance, coordination among different stakeholders, and a more participatory approach to ensure coordination of implementation
- developing tools and regulatory frameworks to collect and share data and best practices
There is now a collective responsibility to ensure we can meet these nine core commitments to decarbonise the building and construction sector.