The announcement was lauded by Committee for Sydney chief executive Gabriel Metcalf,who said it would “propel NSW event further into a leadership role on climate action”.
The Green Building Council’s chief executive Davina Rooney said constructing buildings powered by renewable energy was the best way to achieve this.
“We’d also encourage owners of large commercial office buildings to take strong action in reducing upfront carbon emissions from products and materials,” she said,referring to a new focus within the industryto cut down on embodied carbon.
As part of the state government changes,new residential developments will also be asked to meet higher energy ratings standards.
Property Council of Australia western Sydney director Ross Grove urged the government to allow time “to ensure building designers and developers can make the necessary upgrades”.
Steve Mann,chief executive of the NSW branch of the Urban Development Institute of Australia,said policy changes needed to be considered in light of the crisis around housing affordability and supply.
“Anything that means we’ve got to reset our supply pipelines would have some short-term impacts,” he said,adding that certain councils mandated against lighter roofs because of reflectivity. He said there could also be cost impacts to material supply chains:“[Colorbond] Ironstone is the strongest in demand at the moment.”
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean announced earlier this month that the state had signed a pledge with the United Nations Climate Change Conferenceto boost electric vehicle sales and was on track to make 50 per cent of all new vehicles sold in the state electric by 2030.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has hit campaign mode with a “technology not taxes” mantra in regard to emissions reduction,announcing plans such as investment in charging stations for electric vehicles and a $1 billion scheme to be co-funded by private investorsto decarbonise the economy.
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Mr Stokes,who is temporarily juggling the transport portfolio,said he was left “bemused” by Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s comments to a business forum earlier this year during which he said net-zerowouldn’t be achieved in inner-city cafés and wine bars.
“He was making a different point but ... actually we won’t achieve net-zero without including our wine bars and inner-city cafes,” Mr Stokes said.
“Thankfully,the anti-climate rhetoric emanating from sections of Canberra has cooled significantly over recent months.”
He added that,while COP26 didn’t go as far on commitments as hoped,“it did put climate firmly on the agenda of our federal counterparts”.
Conversely,Mr Stokes said NSW’s response had shown a Coalition government was capable of an “ambitious” climate response while managing economic factors. He said his government not only wanted to act but,in light of recentlegal andoversight decisions,was obliged to.
NSW independent MLC Justin Field said caution was needed in regard to increasing the role for timber in net-zero buildings.
“Expanding sustainable softwood timber plantations as a renewable construction resource makes sense,however we get exponentially greater carbon benefit from allowing our native forests to grow old while also building the resilience of the environment to adapt to a climate change,” he said.
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