Victoria’s property developers and owners will get a chance to have their say on Melbourne’s net-zero carbon-emissions goals after the city council agreed to throw open its planned proposals to public comment.
The Future Melbourne Committee voted unanimously to send the recommendations of its zero carbon buildings discussion paper to community consultation.
The discussion paper, put together after consultation with more than 60 building owners, tenants, academics and government and industry representatives, found the city’s buildings are responsible for 66 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. Commercial buildings generate 60 per cent.
The city has committed to net-zero emissions by 2040.
Councillor Rohan Leppert urged the property sector to get involved in the public consultation.
“I do really emphasise that this consultation process can take us anywhere,” he told the committee meeting.
“We do know that the property sector in particular doesn’t necessarily always like being told what’s about to happen to them.
“This can be as collaborative a process as they'd like it to be. We do want to test a whole lot of ideas, so that we know when we choose which ideas to pursue there’s as much ownership over why we’re pursuing that particular solution as there possibly can be.”
Lord Mayor Sally Capp reminded the committee meeting it was biggest challenge the council faced as it moved towards its target of 100 per cent renewable energy across the municipality by 2030, and zero net carbon emissions by 2040.
“These are practical, achievable, impactful steps that we can take as a city to support activity across the property sector,” Capp said.
“I’m very conscious that as developers deliver new buildings they are meeting very high standards around sustainability, and climate change, mitigation and adaptation.
“But our biggest focus needs to be on existing buildings.”
The discussion paper found around 77 of the Melbourne CBD’s buildings will need to be “retrofitted” each year if the city is to meet its net-zero carbon-emissions goals.
The paper estimates 90 to 95 per cent of the buildings in operation in 2040 will be buildings already existing today, so much of its focuses is on retrofitting existing buildings. However, initiatives geared towards new buildings being developed also feature.
The paper recommends seven key initiatives to be implemented at the local government level.
The first is the development of a zero-carbon lease similar to the green leases now used by 94 per cent of building property owners during the past 18 years where an agreement is made to minimise the use of energy.
Another initiative is to develop a carbon-risk tool for developers and owners to understand how close to zero carbon their properties are and how to make them more efficient.
The Commercial Building Disclosure is another initiative and was already set to expand to cover more land uses and include periodic reporting on NABERS performance but was paused due to the pandemic.
The recommendation is to focus on the periodic reporting aspect as it starts up again.
Deputy Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece urged state and federal government to support their goals.
“The truth is the City of Melbourne cannot do this alone, we don’t have all the levers that are needed,” he said.
“We can’t make all the interventions that are required to achieve the zero-carbon-building future that Australia has to get to.
“From the Commonwealth level it was excellent to see the approval of the new national construction code, which will see the introduction of a seven-star NABERS rating on residential buildings.
“We would like to see this now extended to commercial buildings as well.”
Reece urged the Victorian government to approve amendment C376, which will introduce sustainable building design requirements to the Melbourne Planning Scheme.
The amendment is before the state planning department.
