The transition to a low emission, circular economy is complex, particularly for the construction sector which will need to deliver on the goal.
Metals New Zealand believes that the best chance of New Zealand achieving its zero carbon vision is through MBIE working openly in partnership with the construction
sector.
Clearly, government procurement has a huge role to play in leading that transition to a low emission, circular economy and that government agencies need to be guided in their procurement practices and setting the benchmarks, which ultimately the rest of the sector will follow.
Again, that’s why partnership with the sector is so crucial.
Interestingly, the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment has released a prepared ‘Guide to Reducing Carbon Emissions in Building and Construction’, designed to enable those involved in government projects to steer a project towards the goals of the Building for Climate Change Programme, while influencing the sector along the way.
We are concerned that this guideline has been produced at a time when, to the best of our knowledge MBIE policy on building for climate change is not finalised. Indeed, our members are currently preparing submissions on the Climate Change Commission’s draft advice to government as to how New Zealand can achieve its targets and the role of emissions reduction from buildings and industry, heat and power will enable New Zealand to achieve our goal.
We have a few other issues with the guide, as detailed in our submission to MBIE here Metals New Zealand submission on Procurement Guide to Reducing Carbon Emissions in Building and Construction – including several key inconsistencies between the guide and MBIE discussion documents.
Alongside making these issues clear, we provide some suggested constructive additions to the guide, including that government adopt a ‘whole of life’, ‘whole of building’ approach to life cycle impacts to ensure the true GHG impacts of the built environment are being captured.
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