30 July 2026

The Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the NSW Net Zero Commission’s Decarbonisation Pathways project.

In this submission ASBEC does not seek to duplicate the substantial body of work already undertaken by governments, industry and researchers on built environment decarbonisation. Instead, this submission focuses on four key modelling considerations that we believe will strengthen the Commission’s pathways and help identify practical, least-cost opportunities to accelerate emissions reductions.

We also draw the Commission’s attention to a range of existing publications from ASBEC and our member organisations that provide detailed evidence, technical analysis and implementation guidance. Collectively, these resources demonstrate that the evidence base is well established; the challenge now is to accelerate implementation at the pace and scale required to achieve NSW’s emissions reduction targets. A number of ASBEC member organisations are also making submissions that address issues specific to their sectors and areas of expertise.

The four key modelling considerations discussed in this submission are:

1. Accelerated deployment of proven decarbonisation measures, including energy efficiency, electrification and demand flexibility
2. The built environment as an enabling system, recognising the broader role that high-performing buildings play in supporting economy-wide emissions reductions and reducing pressure on energy infrastructure
3. A whole-of-life approach to emissions, encompassing operational and embodied carbon, refrigerants, and opportunities to improve material efficiency and circularity
4. Planning for changing electricity demand, including the implications of efficient electrification, growing cooling demand and major new loads such as data centres.

Read the full submission here