Building for Climate Change programme gets underway

On July 3, the Minister for Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa, announced a new programme that will help ensure the building and construction sector is playing its part for New Zealand to reach its climate change goals.

The Building for Climate Change programme will focus on finding ways to reduce emissions from buildings during their construction and operation, while also preparing buildings to withstand changes in the climate.

This will be a long-term programme that will go on for the next 20 to 30 years, however, we will be getting started as soon as possible.

Over the next year, we will be focussed on engaging with the building and construction sector to test ideas, and to make sure we get this right. From next year, a group of initiatives will be launched that will kick start changes in the building sector.

We're planning on making some adjustments to current building laws – both the Building Act and the Building Code. We'll also focus on starting to change people's behaviour, and the way they think about designing, constructing and operating buildings. We'll do this through incentives, and encouraging innovation.

At first, we'll be focussing on how we can design, construct and operate new buildings better. In the future, it's possible that changes may need to be made to existing buildings as well. Any changes we do make will be thought through carefully, and we'll talk to the people who will be affected by the changes first, and provide a chance for feedback wherever possible.

If you'd like to find out more details about the programme, and what's happening now, there's more information available on the MBIE website.

More information about the Building for Climate Change programme on mbie.govt.nz.

The Minister also announced that the Government has signed up to a joint statement with Australia, Canada and the United States to work together to develop Building Code responses to the changing climate. Being a part of this initiative will allow us to gather information and insights from other countries, to help us develop responses to climate change here in New Zealand.

We are excited to be part of this international initiative and look forward to supporting its growth and development in the coming years.

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