The Institute is actively supporting efforts to establish firm carbon targets for the built environment.
In 2022, the National Council adopted targets for transitioning to net zero, encompassing operational and embodied carbon. The ultimate goal is to lead in designing for net zero, whole-of-life carbon by 2040.
To achieve this, the Institute urges energy, building and planning ministers to adopt a new national policy for the built environment, including targets such as:
Additionally, the Institute supports international initiatives to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C, advocating for measures like eliminating natural gas use in new buildings by 2025 and retrofitting existing buildings for clean energy by 2040.
Collaborating with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water, the Institute has introduced the Embodied Carbon Curriculum, a crucial step in educating the sector.
In 2024, the National Climate Action Sustainability Committee presented expanded targets to the National Council, including milestones for the National Construction Code up to 2040.
By mid-2024, a draft roadmap will be developed to guide the profession towards meeting these targets, fostering further education and capacity building. Explore more on carbon education, policy, and advocacy through the Climate Action Central Resource.
The Embodied Carbon Curriculum was funded by the Australian Federal Government Department of Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water (DCCEEW) in 2023 and authored by:
Caroline Pidcock LFRAIA
BSc (Arch), B Arch (Hons)
NSW Reg No 5946
Amanda Sturgeon
BSc (Arch), M Arch
Power of Leadership
Dr Dominique Hes
BSc, Grad Dip Eng
PhD Arch
Cert Gov
As part of the work undertaken in writing the curriculum, the authors engaged with a number of industry stakeholders that are currently involved in the development of standards, tools and delivering capacity building education.
The authors would like to thank the following contributors:
LIMITED TIME OFFER – ACCESS THE EMBODIED CARBON CURRICULUM (INFORMAL CPD) FOR FREE FOR ONE YEAR!
As part of the Institute’s leadership in the decarbonisation of the built environment, the informal CPD is accessible to members for a limited time for free through the learning portal.
*Terms and conditions apply. Please review the terms on the Learning Portal pages.
The following five steps have been identified to help architects find their own way to embrace embodied carbon in their work as a creative opportunity while rapidly reducing emissions. The aligned step in the 5 steps roadmap is identified within the curriculum modules.
All these steps are supported with the tool kit, with resources, links, and high-level information that will underpin the curriculum, which will go into more depth building the capacity to implement these steps.
This curriculum is delivered in compliment existing Acumen, CPD and education work including:
Create the capacity to work on this as a practice to support your team to embrace the potential of this for improved outcomes through a building, with the ability to:
This curriculum is currently being edited and mapped to the NSCA for Institute members. Please visit the Learning portal to review the individual NSCA competencies.
The Institute’s CPD portal hosts the full package of Curriculum content for both member and non-member access.
This Informal CPD course is being offered for a limited time through the CPD portal free for 12 months.
The Australian Institute of Architects acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.
