Election 2022: Sector calls for carbon strategy

The federal government is facing new calls to establish a national plan to decarbonise Australia’s infrastructure sector amid fresh warning.

Infrastructure Partnerships Australia chief executive Adrian Dwyer. Picture: Hollie Adams

The federal government is facing new calls to establish a national plan to decarbonise Australia’s infrastructure sector amid warnings a failure to act will threaten economic growth, productivity and risk escalating costs to be borne by future generations.

Infrastructure Partnerships Australia chief executive Adrian Dwyer is urging the federal government to take decisive action to drive down emissions across the infrastructure sector in order to achieve its target of net zero emissions by 2050.

The warnings come as part of a landmark IPA report, titled Decarbonising Infrastructure, which has set the next-elected government a task to establish consistency across state governments in a bid to tackle climate change.

“State and territory governments have been shouldering much of the burden, with a range of commitments and strategies,” the report read.

“This has created a complex, overlapping patchwork of actions and reforms across nine separate jurisdictions.

“Without a clear national plan Australia risks being left behind, with capital flowing to other nations with compelling, long-term mandates for green investment.”

With the nation’s record infrastructure pipeline worth close to $300bn, Mr Dwyer said decisions about many of these project’s carbon profiles were still yet to be made.

Incremental change is already under way in parts of the sector, including energy and transport, where the private sector has been proactive in reducing emissions and companies having set their own emissions targets.

Renewable energy projects have been added to the Australia New Zealand Infrastructure Pipeline (ANZIP) at record pace in recent years, with an estimated total cost of $254bn now under development or construction across Australia.

Wind and solar generation is expected to power Australia’s future, with projections this technology could reach 61 per cent of the nation’s total energy supply by 2030.

However, the construction industry has been slow to decarbonise, with its transition previously considered a “second-order issue.”

While Australia’s official emissions reporting does not account for construction emissions in its own stand-alone category, it is estimated the industry generates 30-50m tonnes of carbon each year.

A major hurdle will be decarbonising construction materials, with Australia’s infrastructure pipeline reliant on a huge amount of cement and steel which are two of the highest emitting materials used in construction.

Mr Dwyer said decarbonising the infrastructure sector would provide a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to drive down the nation’s emissions, attract low-carbon investment and generate economic growth and prosperity across the sector.