Australia’s housing targets are incompatible with climate goals

Philip Oldfield, head of UNSW’s school of the built environment and a researcher in sustainable and low-carbon architecture, has penned an article in The Guardian warning that the federal government’s target of building 1.2 million homes over five years risks blowing Australia’s emissions targets.

“If we construct these homes the same way as we do today, their materials will contribute to millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, while our poorly performing existing homes will remain freezing in the winter”, Oldfield writes.

“We need to change the way we design, build and retrofit housing to avoid a climate catastrophe”.