Photo by Petra Reid on Unsplash
The built environment is starkly absent in the government’s proposed second Emissions Reduction Plan despite being responsible for 20 per cent of New Zealand’s carbon footprint.
“The Emissions Reduction Plan misses the huge opportunity to not only slash emissions, but improve health and productivity as well as lower electricity demand,” says Andrew Eagles, chief executive of the New Zealand Green Building Council.
A report earlier this year showed introducing low-cost policies to improve building standards, phase out gas, and make energy use transparent could save 93,000kt of emissions by 2050 - saving New Zealand almost $40 billion and slash emissions equivalent to taking half of New Zealand’s petrol cars off the road.
Today’s ERP fails to mention popular past plans to implement pollution-busting energy transparency labels on buildings, despite buildings being responsible for much of the 37% of New Zealand’s emissions from energy use.
“There’s no plan to improve energy efficiency. The document talks about ramping up renewable energy, yet the cleanest, cheapest energy is the energy we don’t use. It’s a huge gap and would support getting New Zealand back on track to meeting our climate obligations.”
There’s global pressure to get our buildings performing well. At COP28 Minister Watts signed a global commitment to double energy efficiency every year to 2030.
“The Minister knows there’s huge support for regulatory action for buildings. Industry leaders are calling for it, millions of Kiwis would benefit from it, and our climate response demands it. It’s low hanging fruit just waiting for government leadership.”
The ERP says the Government intends to support green building practices in New Zealand, with work underway to explore that.
“This is encouraging, but there’s no reason this can’t be done sooner. Green building practices aren’t new, with thousands in the industry already building to higher standards for over a decade. Most of the world have moved past our outdated standards long ago, and the universal benefits of better building regulations are well documented.
“We can’t afford to delay any longer. The industry stands ready, we now need the government to get on with it and make some progress.”
The NZGBC’s submission to the ERP will be available in the coming weeks.