The Albanese government has not ruled out hitting huge volumes of Australian building material imports with “carbon tariffs” as the government firms up its policy agenda. That is according to Chris Bowen, Australia’s Energy Minister, who said a carbon border adjustment mechanism, putting tariffs on countries that do not have a carbon price, could be a way for Australia to avoid the dreaded “carbon leakage” – where emission production is moved offshore.
The mechanism under review by ANU Professor Frank Jotzo, whose early analysis flagged clinker, cement, and lime as particularly exposed sectors, with steel, ammonia, and glass identified as medium-risk.
“We have been clear that we want to ensure Australian industry is best placed to compete in a decarbonising world,” Bowen said. “What could be the case is … we look at particular sectors first around cement and lime, [which] are places that we looked at in particular, but I’m not going to get in front of the process … We’ll have more to say during this term.”
UN pushes for timber to replace steel and concrete in buildings.
In recent years, governments have been under pressure to build less, use more sustainable materials, and “clean up” traditional materials to net-zero targets. In 2023, a report by the UN Environment Programme and the Yale Centre for Ecosystems and Architecture called for policymakers to substitute steel, carbon, and glass (which make up 23% of total emissions) with timber and bamboo, cutting up to 40% of total emissions by 2050.
“However, more policy and financial support are needed to ensure the widespread adoption of renewable bio-based building materials,” the report said, adding that the “transformation of regional markets and building cultures through building codes, certification, labelling and education is (also) critical.”
Earlier this year, the World Cement Association (WCA) reported that global demand for cement and clinker production could drop 30%—from 4.2 billion to 3 billion tons over the next 25 years, with a white paper – Long-Term Forecast for Cement and Clinker Demand – predicting that clinker, the main ingredient for Portland cement, will drop from 2.8 billion tonnes to between 1 billion and 1.9 billion tonnes in response to, amongst other things, the growing demand for mass timber and geopolymers.
- For more information about why 3.5 billion cubic metres of wood is critical to help the globe decarbonise its building and construction industry, click here for Wood Central’s special feature from last year.
