The potential contribution of building codes to climate change response policies for the built environment

Improved building energy efficiency has been shown to contribute substantially to global greenhouse gas abatement objectives. Realisation of these benefits depends on the deployment of appropriate policy instruments. Building energy codes have the potential to deliver economic, environmental, societal and other strategic benefits. Australia’s high per capita greenhouse emissions and rates of building construction provide a national case study in climate policy development. Insights into reform of Australia’s National Construction Code also provide evidence-based analysis of the efficacy of market-based energy efficiency measures, demonstrating that building energy codes are a cost-effective greenhouse emission reduction instrument and also that market failures inhibit the effectiveness of conventional economic instruments in reducing building sector greenhouse emissions. Although building energy codes do provide a potentially transformative intervention in the property market, their effectiveness is bedevilled by problems with enforcement and stakeholder behaviour in service. Addressing these impediments calls for targeted policy packages to bridge identified gaps between presumptive building performance objectives and outcomes actually observed in practice.