As part of the Decarbonising Infrastructure Delivery Roadmap, a new measure has been adopted for future infrastructure projects by the NSW Government to reduce emissions and costs for the general public.
Minister for Infrastructure Rob Stokes said the metric is one of several actions announced as part of the roadmap released by the Liberals and Nationals Government.
According to the minister, cutting carbon emissions from infrastructure projects saves time, money, and the environment.
“Cutting emissions will cut the amount of steel and concrete we use to build big infrastructure projects and can even create more capacity to build more infrastructure projects,” Stokes noted.
He pointed out that “what gets measured gets managed,” so the rollout of a standardised carbon measurement tool across government projects will ensure NSW will remain a national leader when it comes to climate change initiatives.
Minister for Environment James Griffin said the draft Protection of the Environment Policy (PEP) for sustainable construction, which is being provided by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), will be subject to consultation this year.
“Already, NSW is leading the nation when it comes to sustainable design and reducing emissions, and our new regulation for sustainable construction will go even further,” Griffin said.
Griffin added that the PEP will compel public infrastructure projects to prioritise the use of low-carbon recycled or remanufactured substitute materials originating from waste streams in NSW and further improve design and construction to decrease carbon.
He explained that using a circular economy strategy in the built environment may reduce emissions by 3.6 million tonnes annually by 2040 and generate $773 billion in direct economic benefits across Australia over 20 years.
“That’s equivalent to taking almost 800,000 cars off the road annually,” he added.
In 2023, the M12 West, the St. Mary’s Footbridge, and three projects for Transport for NSW will serve as the experimental sites for the Preservation of the Environment Policy.
The $356 million Waste and Sustainable Materials Plan of the NSW Liberal and Nationals Government includes a $37 million Carbon Recycling and Abatement Fund to assist businesses in decarbonising.
