Material demand, and environmental and climate implications of Australia's building stock: Current status and outlook to 2060

The construction and maintenance of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings are associated with a significant environmental footprint. Resource efficiency and innovation in the built infrastructure sector are essential for achieving sustainable development goals, and timely information is required to support sustain ability policies in cities and towns. Therefore, we estimated the material and environmental footprint of Australian residential, commercial, and industrial buildings in 2016. Our analysis combines spatially explicit gross floor area (GFA) data, building materials per GFA for eleven building types in two construction periods, and estimates of key building materials' emissions, energy, and water footprint. We estimated the material footprint of 8.8 million buildings at 3.8 billion tonnes with associated emissions of 1,804 million tonnes of CO(2)e and consumption of 24,218 terajoules (TJ) of energy and 31.5 billion litres of water. Concrete accounts for 59% of the material footprint, followed by sand and stone, ceramics, and timber with 23%, 8%, and 4%, respectively. Most materials, 70.7%, are in residential buildings, while commercial and industrial buildings account for 24.7% and 4.6%, respectively. By 2060, the projected material demand for new buildings and replacing ageing buildings ranges from 4.3 to 7.5 billion tonnes for alternative population growth scenarios. The upper range of the demand signals a two-fold increase in building materials and associated environmental impacts by 2060. Considering this, if Australia does not change the way construction materials are produced and buildings are designed towards sustainable outcomes, the country may not be able to achieve its net-zero emissions target by 2050.

Automated summary

The construction and maintenance of buildings in Australia have a significant environmental impact, with concrete being the largest contributor to the material footprint. The demand for building materials is projected to increase in the future, posing challenges to achieve sustainable outcomes and meet emission reduction targets.