Our emissions are on the rise. New Zealand’s construction sector continues as one of the few sectors with rising emissions, while the homes our society live in are contributing to higher household emissions.
The latest emissions data from Stats NZ show construction emissions rose 0.8 percent in the December quarter. It’s not by much, but it does make us one of just three sectors to see an increase, while total household emissions were up, driven in part by higher pollution from heating and cooling.
There can be no doubt, as shown by our growing community, that there’s some impressive, leading mahi going on in Aotearoa. Just last week I attended the launch of the 10 Homestar LowCO house by Fletcher Living – a tremendous project that has the opportunity to shape not only future house design and construction, but to embed the lessons learnt into the supply chain of one of our country’s largest building materials manufacturers. However, the fact remains that we’ll struggle to see the slashing of emissions necessary for a 1.5 degree future without concerted leadership, regulatory change, and a societal paradigm shift around what we value in a building.
Overall, emissions have dropped year on year, but as Marc Daalder of Newsroom points out, projections that these reductions put us on course for our climate targets are based on previous policies, many of which have been scrapped by the new government. At a breakfast event earlier this month Prime Minister Christopher Luxon repeated said he was deeply committed to our climate targets, and after a recent cabinet reshuffle the Climate Change Minister Simon Watts now has a seat at the table. Given the huge opportunity we have to shape a greener future through buildings, no doubt we’ll be following in the footsteps of the EU in embedding zero carbon buildings into our regulatory system and leading the world in lower carbon homes for the benefit of the planet and their people.
There are solutions available, and some people are already taking action. What we need is scale. You can hear more from some of those leaders at our upcoming Housing Summit just three weeks from now.
We continue to hear your ideas, hopes, and vision for a sustainably built Aotearoa. Thank you to everyone who is advocating for change, walking the talk, and helping transform our sector for the better. As I’ve said many times here before, let’s get on with it.