ASBEC members are engaged across government and industry in pursuing sustainability outcomes, policies and initiatives. Current member activities include:

Consult Australia: Transporting Australia's Future

Consult Australia has launched a new integrated funding framework for transport infrastructure: Transporting Australia’s Future. Australia’s increasing infrastructure backlog sends a clear message that current policy will not fund the transport infrastructure we need now for a growing population and competitive economy. Consult Australia has responded to this challenge by developing a new integrated funding framework for transport infrastructure, Transporting Australia’s Future, as a win-win solution for government, business and the community.

Transporting Australia’s Future provides for integrated reform across each of the following areas:

• better use of existing infrastructure assets;
• taxation reform;
• better public financing instruments; and
• new approaches to, and increased, private financing.

Transporting Australia’s Future was not commissioned from a third party, but has been developed by, and reflects the specialist opinion of Consult Australia’s Infrastructure Roundtable representing Australia’s leading firms in consulting, planning, engineering and project development including in transport infrastructure projects across Australia and internationally.

A link to the report can be found here.

City of Melbourne: 1200 Buildings program

The 1200 Buildings program aims to catalyse the retrofit of non-residential buildings in Melbourne. Industry Capability Network (ICN) Victoria is working with City of Melbourne to deliver a register of industry capability to support the program. The program will provide building owners/managers and contractors with ready access to retrofit products and services.

The Register is located on ICN’s Regional Industry Link.  For more information and to register as a supplier visit the 1200 Buildings Products and Services Register. Select "register your business with RIL now" and under Industry categories, choose "1200 Buildings Program – Sustainable Buildings and Retrofitting", then select your product or service types.

Benefits
The 1200 Buildings program communicates to building owners/managers and facility managers the benefits of undertaking an environmental retrofit. The program provides building owners/managers with the opportunity to market their successes to shareholders and tenants. They will be provided with access to competitive finance.

• Retrofitting 1200 buildings will benefit the Victorian economy by driving $1.7 billion of private sector investment and create green jobs.
• Retrofitting benefits building owners/managers by making buildings more attractive to tenants and saving money on utility bills and maintenance.
• Retrofitting benefits the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the use of potable water and waste to landfill. 

For more details on business opportunities, please click here.

Background
Carbon neutral by 2020 is the aspiration goal adopted by the City of Melbourne in 2002 to support the ongoing liveability and economic viability of the municipality. If 1200 commercial buildings retrofit to improve their energy efficiency by 38 percent, 383,000 tonnes of carbon will be mitigated each year. Building owners and managers across the city are rising to the challenge! For more information visit 1200 Buildings program

Energy Efficiency Council: Prime Minister's Task Group on Energy Efficiency

The Energy Efficiency Council has been appointed to advise the Prime Minister’s Task Group on Energy Efficiency, which has been establised to develop recommendations by mid-2010 to “deliver a step change improvement in Australia’s energy efficiency by 2020.” The Task Group is looking for “big ideas” that would have a major impact in:

• Energy generation
• Energy markets
• Energy use efficiency in households, industry, commercial buildings, government and transport

The Task Group is composed of the heads and deputy-heads of four departments (Climate Change and Energy Efficiency; Resources, Energy and Tourism; Treasury; Prime Minister and Cabinet).

Other organisations appointed to advise the Task Group include Origin, Rio Tinto, the Climate Institute and the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

The Task Group has released an issues paper. Submissions are due by 3 May 2010. The issues paper can be found at http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/submissions/pm-task-group.aspx

The Energy Efficiency Council will develop a major submission for the Task Group and encourages other organisations to make submissions.

If your organisation is an ASBEC member and you have updates that you would like placed here for public access, please contact Jayne Paramor (details on the Contact Us page).

Image courtesy of seaskylab