Study identifies ways to decarbonise NZ construction by 40%

14th Nov 2019

A new report has identified strategies to decarbonise New Zealand’s building and construction sector by 40%. Written by sustainability experts thinkstep-anz for the New Zealand Green Building Council, the report estimates that 1.2 million tonnes of carbon could be slashed from the construction industry – the equivalent of taking almost 500,000 cars off the road.

In a previous report, thinkstep-anz calculated that the built environment contributes up to 20% of New Zealand’s GHG emissions, and approximately half of these emissions were embodied in building materials (buildings and infrastructure), half from operating our building stock, and a small proportion from end-of-life.

Dr Jeff Vickers, Technical Director at thinkstep-anz, said: “A collaborative effort will enable us to achieve or exceed the 40% decarbonisation potential identified in this report. We all sit in the same boat and we won’t achieve New Zealand’s net-zero carbon goal by 2050 if we don’t collaborate. There are opportunities within each material stream to decarbonise and if everyone does their bit it will add up to something great.”

“The cumulative impact of all industries working together is equivalent to taking 460,000 fossil-fuelled cars off the road permanently. Even greater savings are possible if we add ‘better design’ and strong market demand for low-impact products.”

Click here to access the full report.