‘Built to Perform’ prepared by the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) and ClimateWorks Australia shows that setting stronger energy standards for new buildings in the National Construction Code could between now and 2050 reduce energy bills by up to $27 billion, cut energy network costs by up to $7 billion and deliver at least 78 million tonnes of cumulative emissions savings.

“Australia needs to transition to a net zero emissions economy by 2050 to meet our commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement. But new analysis by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy shows Australia scores the lowest in energy efficiency amongst all developing countries. Although market-leading Australian companies are demonstrating world-class commitment to a sustainable built environment, the market alone cannot fix this problem,” said ASBEC Executive Director Suzanne Toumbourou.

“All of the buildings being built today will still be operating in 2050, at a time when we will need to be at or near net zero emissions. Our Building Code needs to be ‘zero carbon ready’, ensuring that today’s new builds are prepared to operate in a zero carbon future.”

Improved energy performance of buildings presents a win-win-win opportunity, reducing stress on the electricity network, offering bill savings, supporting a least-cost pathway to a zero carbon built environment, and improving health and resilience outcomes for households and businesses.

'Built to Perform' shows that setting strong energy standards for new buildings in the Code could, between now and 2050, reduce energy bills by up to $27 billion, cut energy network costs by up to $7 billion and deliver at least 78 million tonnes of cumulative emissions savings.

“We welcome proposed improvements to the 2019 National Construction Code to advance energy performance in commercial buildings and adjust the requirements for residential buildings,” said Ms Toumbourou.

“However, to meet the full potential of the Code, we need to shift away from ad-hoc, periodic updates. Governments must agree to a longer-term plan with targets and a clear, regulated and transparent process for Code updates out to 2030, starting with a step-change in residential standards in 2022," she told WILLIAMS MEDIA.

“If developers and manufacturers know how the Code requirements will evolve over the next 15 years, this will provide the regulatory certainty industry needs to plan and invest in new technologies, delivering higher building energy performance at lower cost.” said Professor Tony Arnel, Chair of ASBEC’s Building Code Task Group and President of the Energy Efficiency Council.

Property Council Chief Executive, Ken Morrison, said the National Construction Code was an important policy lever in working towards a zero carbon future, but noted that more stringent standards in the Code alone would not be enough to achieve this target.

“The report highlights that building code standards, while important, will only take us part of the way to meeting Australia’s zero carbon targets,” Morrison said.

“The project’s comprehensive modelling across different climate zones showed that energy efficiency code changes can produce between 19-25 per cent reduction in carbon emissions in residential buildings, 22-34 per cent reduction in emissions in commercial buildings 35-56 per cent reductions in public buildings to 2034.

“These are substantial reductions and should be pursued, but they also demonstrate that a range of other policies need to be considered, including the decarbonisation of the electricity grid through greater use of distributed energy, as part of a comprehensive strategy for a zero carbon built environment by 2050.”

Morrison said it was important for the industry to have clarity over the trajectory of future building code standards.

“Everyone recognises the stringency of building codes will need to increase over time, but it is important the trajectory of these changes are mapped out into the future.

“We call on governments to incorporate the results of this project into a forward trajectory of code changes over time to provide industry with the certainty it needs to plan for and deliver reduced carbon emissions.”

Morrison said Australia’s property industry is already leading the way on sustainability compared to global peers, as measured by GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) the global ESG benchmark for real assets for the past seven years.

“The property industry has set its own ambitious targets to reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency but there is an important role for governments to show more leadership and establish more comprehensive policies targeting energy efficiency.

“Our market leaders are already doing amazing things with new and existing buildings. But a stronger suite of policies will be needed to create the momentum for change that our national emissions targets will require,”Morrison said.

‘With the right leadership from government and a comprehensive suite of policies and incentives, industry can deliver on our zero carbon target in a way that also supports a growing and innovative property industry,” Morrison said.

Read the 'Built to Perform': An industry led pathway to a zero carbon ready building code report in full here.

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