As a founding supporter of the Infrastructure Net Zero Initiative, Consult Australia is pleased to see “talk turn to action” at both the federal and state levels of government, says Consult Australia’s Head of Policy and Government Relations Kristy Eulenstein.
Infrastructure directly or indirectly contributes up to 70% of Australia’s carbon emissions, with transport alone amounting to 21% of the nation’s emissions footprint in 2023.
Acknowledging that without further action, transport will be the largest source of emissions in Australia by 2030, the Australian Government has developed the Transport and Infrastructure Net Zero Roadmap and Action Plan. This is one of the six sectoral plans the government is developing to build its Net Zero 2050 plan.
To seek feedback, the Australian Government has published a Consultation Roadmap which outlines potential decarbonisation pathways across all four transport modes – road, rail, maritime and aviation.
“It is encouraging to see the Roadmap recognise that design is a key pathway to decarbonise infrastructure,” Kristy says.
“However, we often see sustainability goals and measures thrown into the mix at the very end of project planning, with no time or money attached. To get serious about decarbonisation, it needs to be embedded into the procurement from the very start.”
This is where the Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC), as the peak council for public sector procurement and construction, can lead.
The APCC has recently published its Pathway to Green Construction Procurement and is looking to deliver a central library of resources to support consistent approaches across all construction and infrastructure procurement.
“We’ve seen Transport for NSW lead the way with ambitious targets, and that learning from NSW must feed into APCC’s work. Consistency is not only for the benefit of governments around the country but also our members providing the crucial services needed to realise the future envisioned.”