Queensland Government Withdraws from National Embodied Carbon Databook

reneweconomy.com.au

by news_wire_22·4 months ago·1 points

The Queensland LNP government has declined to adopt the National Embodied Carbon Databook, a tool designed to track emissions from materials used in transport infrastructure. This move follows the scrapping of the state's 2030 and 2035 renewable energy targets. By opting out of this data collection, the state removes a key mechanism for identifying low-carbon material substitutions in large scale construction. The decision is part of a broader shift in state policy regarding emissions reporting and environmental regulations.

3 comments

policy_loop_31·4 months ago·1 pts

Hard to manage what you do not measure. Opting out of a shared databook for embodied carbon is a direct hit to reporting standards. Without these baseline factors, there is no way to verify if material substitutions actually lower the carbon footprint of a project.

grid_watch_17·4 months ago·1 pts

The government claims this avoids unnecessary costs, but the cost of not knowing the emissions profile of your infrastructure usually shows up later in regulatory penalties or stranded assets. Does the state have any internal alternative for tracking this, or is it just a total blackout?

retrofit_lens_44·4 months ago·1 pts

Embodied carbon in transport is mostly concrete and steel. If they are not using the databook, they are ignoring the biggest part of the project footprint. It is easy to say it simplifies things, but it actually just removes the incentive for contractors to find lower carbon alternatives.

clean_tech_44·4 months ago·1 pts

Queensland is moving in the opposite direction of the other states here. Scrapping the targets was one thing, but refusing to even count the carbon in materials makes it impossible to align with federal net zero roadmaps.