Page 59 - Climate Control News May 2020

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Emissions Reduction Fund under review
THE CLIMATE CHANGE Authority has re- leased a consultation paper on its review of the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF).
The CCA is seeking input to the review until May 20, 2020.
The Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initia- tive) Act 2011 (Cth) (CFI Act) covers the crediting and purchasing elements of the ERF.
The CFI Act also requires the Authority to re- view the Act, regulations and other instruments made under the Act every three years.
Chair of the Authority, Dr Wendy Craik said the review will take into account the operation of the ERF and the changes made to it in the period since the Authority’s last review in 2017. It will consider the overall performance of the scheme as well as focus on three main themes -
• maintaining integrity and optimising governance
• managing risks to abate- ment, and
• opportunities for en- hancing outcomes. “The Authority rec-
ognises the severe dis- ruption caused by Covid-19 and ac- knowledges this may be a difficult time for some to contribute a submission,” Craik said.
“In order to assist, we are adopting a flexible approach to stakeholder engagement.”
The consultation paper provides
options for providing input and is avail-
able at www.climatechangeauthority.gov.au
Sydney tops local rankings for rising costs
SYDNEY HAS TOPPED rankings in Australia for high construction costs climbing four spots since last year.
According to the International Construction Cost Report 2020 from Arcadis, which covers 100 global cities, London was the world’s most expensive city, followed by New York City and Hong Kong.
The 10 least expensive cities are in Asia with at least half of those found in China.
Sydney was the most expensive Australian city at 30, followed by: Brisbane (38), Melbourne (41) and Perth (50).
According to the report the cost of construc-
The report into construction costs covered 100 global cities.
tion in Australian cities was heavily impacted by the slowing economy and the steady decline in construction work over the last three years, par- ticularly within the residential sector in Sydney and Melbourne. However, this was countered by an increase in demand for non-residential and infrastructure projects in other cities.
Arcadis national director of cost and commer- cial management, Matthew Mackey, said despite construction levels falling, construction costs have continued to rise in most Australian cities.
“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on lo- cal construction costs is expected to be signifi- cant – although it is extremely difficult to pre-
dict to what extent and for how long,” he said. “Unlike the last global downturn, the impact of COVID-19 is not about the availability of cash. Rather, it is about our inherent ability to physi-
cally go to work and maintain cash flow. “Therefore, when our economy starts return- ing to some semblance of normal, there will like-
ly be a spike of ‘super inflation’ in some markets. “This spike will be caused by numerous pro- jects either starting or re-starting over a short period due to an abundance of cash but with little immediate resource availability to deliv-
er the work.
“The limited availability of resources at all lev-
els of the supply chain, which has been an almost continuous feature of the Australian market over the last few years, is expected to worsen as job losses continue to hit.”
The annual International Construction Costs Report provides a comparative index of global construction costs.
This year’s report addresses two challenges: the unfolding effects of the COVID-19 pandem- ic and unchanged need for the industry to focus on rethinking resilience amid climate change while plotting a course towards a carbon neu- tral future.
Construction processes alone are responsi- ble for nearly 12% of global, energy-related CO2 emissions and heating and cooling build- ings is one of the biggest single causes of glob- al warming. ✺
CLIMATE CONTROL NEWS MAY 2020
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