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PROPOSAL TO REVISE ENERGY EFFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS OF THE BUILDING CODE OF AUSTRALIA FOR COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS 73
6.7 Annual greenhouse gas abatement
1400
1200
1000
1000 tCO2-e
800
600
400
200
0
2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 2055 2060
Data source: CIE estimates based on Australian Government (2008) and DCC (2009).
The GHG abatement that can be expected from the proposed
amendments would represent about one per cent of the Government’s
abatement target of 138 Mt CO2-e. 29 While this may appear to be a
relatively small contribution, there are several key advantages to pursuing
GHG abatement in the building sector.
First, the abatement achieved through the proposed BCA amendments is
likely to be low cost. It is now well documented, that energy efficiency
investments in the building sector can provide significant low cost, or even
negative cost, GHG abatement (CIE 2007). Given the costs and benefits
assessed here, abatement can be achieved at a negative cost of $70 per
tonne of CO2-e.
That is, as well as reducing GHG emissions, the measures improve
community welfare. By comparison, the Treasury estimates that the
carbon price under the CPRS will be around $35 per tonne of CO2-e by
2020. The reduced abatement cost signifies an increase in overall
efficiency, and implies that fewer resources need be diverted (from other
economic activities) in order to meet the Government’s emissions
target. 30
Second, much of the abatement achieved by the CPRS — especially in
the years after 2020 — is achieved by either switching to alternative and
29 138 Mt CO2-e represents a 5 per cent reduction in emissions (relative to 2000 levels) by
2020.
30 Furthermore, while it is possible that the abatement achieved might impact on the carbon
price, estimating the magnitude of this would require the use of a computable general
equilibrium model, and is outside the scope of this study.
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