- Title
- Fostering an Australia-India Zero Carbon building construction network
- Creator
- Gajendran, Thayaparan; Siva, Jessica; Toinpre, Owi; Maud, Kim; Beard, Cameron; Bajaj, Deepak; Patil, Sanjay; Deep, Shumank; Antao, Argenio
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.25817/h1na-e680
- Publisher
- University of Newcastle
- Resource Type
- report
- Date
- 2024
- Description
- The adverse impacts of climate change and concomitant effects of the construction sector's operations in terms of net energy consumption and contribution to GHG emissions have once again rekindled commitments of countries globally to develop strategies for reducing their carbon footprint. Major highlights for such claims have been witnessed through the tremendous support for the implementation of international frameworks such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and the United Nations Habitat III which have renewed a focus on sustainable development. These frameworks have also been utilised to set ambitious targets aimed at ensuring safe and affordable housing, resilient cities and communities and keeping global temperatures well below 2oC while designing, developing and operating buildings in a manner that does not compromise the safety and well-being of future generations. While these international frameworks have also largely served as a conduit for creating collaborative platforms for the exchange of knowledge and localisation of built environment policy frameworks, the Australia-India Council through Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) established the Australia-India Zero Carbon Construction Network project to solidify and reinforce this move. The project was underpinned by five strategic focus areas to foster collaboration and engagement between the academia-industry and government in Australia and India. These strategic focus areas include: (i) construction market, technology, and industry readiness; (ii) trade and supply network challenges; (iii) behavioural and cultural issues; (iv) policy challenges/opportunities and (v) educational capacity-awareness, capacity and skills. The project’s objectives were focused on (i) facilitating relationships for addressing long-term climate change impact (ii) creating a platform for developing ongoing business-trade connections and knowledge sharing (iii) proposing a guide for appropriate levels of zero-carbon construction exposure to raise awareness and build capabilities and skills (iv) produce an action road map outlining strategies for addressing and engaging in educational trade and business collaborations. Through partnerships with experts in the construction industry, the academia, government and research organisations and professional bodies, the Australia-India Zero-Carbon Construction Network identified key barriers and enablers for achieving a net zero carbon construction strategy in education and practice. By using face-to-face and online modes, three dialogue events were conducted simultaneously across locations in India and Australia to facilitate cross-institutional, cross-boundary multidisciplinary collaboration and engagement. This project spurred the organisation of a design competition amongst students across Australia and India which has further extended the bilateral ties between not just Australia and India, but with countries in the Asia-Pacific region as it had stakeholders from Bangladesh, Nepal, Malaysia and Sri Lanka in attendance. Other countries that participated in the event featured stakeholders from New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Key outcomes from the project highlighted barriers and enablers for achieving a zero carbon construction strategy at two distinct levels. The first was in the design and delivery of zero carbon building education, while the second was the design, construction and operation of zero-carbon buildings. Some of the major barriers for the design and delivery of zero carbon building education included: gaps in awareness on changes in construction industry trends; transforming mental models of professionals in practice; and reviewing teaching and training models/pedagogies; while major barriers for design, construction and operation of zero-carbon buildings included: gaps in methodologies for measuring carbon; integrating sustainability components at early stages of building design; perceived cost implications for adopting zero- carbon construction strategies; and facilitating multisectoral engagements for knowledge sharing. Upon successful deliberations during the dialogues, key highlights on the solutions included: improving education about zero carbon buildings; facilitating academia-government and industry collaborations and engagement; developing voluntary programmes; and reducing cost through efficient designs. These can further be facilitated through policy initiatives that are focused on mainstreaming innovation and providing tools, data and information for benchmarking. Furthermore, government roles in providing enabling mechanisms, targeted building polices and supporting measures is crucial. These are reflected in a unified framework for fostering an Australia-India Zero Carbon Building Construction Network.
- Subject
- built environment; zero carbon; Australia; India
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1509181
- Identifier
- uon:56221
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780725979744
- Rights
- Fostering an Australia-India Zero Carbon building construction network © 2024 by Thayaparan Gajendran, Jessica Siva, Owi Toinpre, Kim Maund, Cameron Beard, Deepak Bajaj, Sanjay Patil, Shumank Deep and Argenio Antao. is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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