This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
A NEW roadmap from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) outlines a path to decarbonised precincts across the country.
Launching as part of the GBCA’s TRANSFORM conference, The Climate Positive Roadmap for Precincts is targeting a net zero goal for 2030 for new precincts and 2050 for existing precincts, through steps to be undertaken by all stakeholders.
“It’s becoming increasingly clear that low carbon precincts will be a powerful solution to decarbonising our economy,” said Nick Alsop, senior manager of market engagement at GBCA.
Alsop also emphasised the diverse benefits derived from sustainable precincts, from greater efficiency, health benefits and resilience to offering developers a chance to display a commitment to sustainability to their investor, shareholders and consumers.
“We’ve seen some great examples of leaders in our sector already achieving these targets to drive carbon reductions in precincts that are now in operation and being enjoyed by communities,” added Alsop.
The proposed steps include the embedding of climate positive pathways into all stages of planning, making a commitment to fossil-fuel-free precincts and creating policies and planning processes that enable this.
Additionally, the roadmap calls for stakeholders to ensure they remove the barriers to low carbon precinct energy solutions, push for lower upfront carbon in materials and construction activity and commit to delivering low carbon buildings in all precincts.
“Our report highlights some of these precincts through case studies, and we’re really looking forward to continuing to add to this list as we see more sustainable precincts come to life,” said Alsop.
All the the precincts looked to in the report has achieved a 6 Star Green Star community rating and included Ginninderry in ACT, Frasers Property Australia’s Ed. Square in NSW, Sydney Olympic Park in NSW and Lendlease’s Barangaroo South in NSW, which became the country’s first carbon neutral precinct back in 2019.
This new report comes after GBCA, the Infrastructure Council of Australia and the CEFC released a report on the impacts on and possibilities for net zero in the embodied carbon emissions in materials used by Australia’s building and construction sector.
