Infrastructure Net Zero aims to accelerate the decarbonisation of Australia’s infrastructure sector. 

Under this initiative organisations from government, finance, the supply chain and research will collaborate on climate concepts for key stages of the asset lifecycle including; investment, procurement, design, construction, operations and asset management.

The aim is to raise the capability and capacity of all these sectors to meet Australia’s updated targets of 43 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050.

Other participants are Australian Constructors Association, Australasian Railway Association, Consult Australia, Green Building Council Australia, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, Infrastructure Sustainability Council, Roads Australia, Department of Infrastructure Transport, Regional Development, Communications & the Arts, Infrastructure Australia and Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

Mike Kilburn, Director, Infrastructure Net Zero said the initiative hopes to facilitate alignment with all involved to avoid inefficiencies caused by having multiple tools, regulations and approaches.

“Agreement across the working groups will set a clear path for rapid implementation as infrastructure stakeholders can make plans and investment decisions with greater certainty,” he said.   

Romilly Madew AO, Engineers Australia CEO said the organisation has signed up as a Gold member of Infrastructure Net Zero.

“Engineers Australia is excited to be taking an active role in co-leading the workstream for capability. Engineers are critical in the transition to net zero.”

There are five workstreams under Infrastructure Net Zero:

• Policy and regulation – working with Federal, State and Territory governments to build awareness and consensus of new regulation and policy to decarbonise with the contractors, asset owners and operators that will have to deliver the reductions.   
• Defining Net Zero – building consensus around a formal definition for Net Zero infrastructure, which has not been done before, and will help to identify the guiding principles, scope, opportunities, gaps and to decarbonisation of infrastructure. 
• Capability – identify the skills, experience and headcount in the key roles required to enable the infrastructure to meet the targets, for which there are significant shortages in Australia. 
• Procurement for Net Zero – enhancing procurement processes that enable decarbonisation by identifying and removing roadblocks, creating effective incentives, and developing common approaches across every stage, sector and jurisdiction of the supply chain. 
• Trusted data – establishing a clear framework to determine the metrics, verification, management and use of carbon data to be collected by the government under new carbon -related regulation.

Engineers Australia looks forward to beginning its work on capability and is forming partnerships to further our goal of shaping a sustainable world.