Sustainability: Innovation, Policy and Legislation to Support Decarbonisation

Part 3 of The Low Carbon Concrete – Design, Specification & Construction March 2025 Roadshow Review

Originally published in Concrete in Australia Magazine 51.2 (June 2025 )

With a decisive federal election result in early May, Australia has voted for stability in government and a continuation of existing priorities relating to cost of living, sustainability and economic resilience.

In its first term, the Albanese government made significant commitments to Australia’s sustainability agenda

– most notably, bringing forward decarbonisation targets outlined in Australia’s Nationally Determined Contributions under the international Paris Agreement framework. These targets have shaped the rollout of a series of legislative instruments and programs aimed at supporting Australia’s transition to an emissions-neutral economy.

Over the past year, climate change policy teams across the Departments of Climate Change, Industry,

Transport and Agriculture have worked collaboratively to engage deeply with industry and develop six sectoral net-zero plans. These plans aim to address sector-specific emissions while protecting and enhancing the resilience and productivity of each sector.

For the concrete sector, the Industry and Waste Sectoral Plan will be the most critical. It directly identifies cement and concrete as materials of interest and outlines priority pathways, including alternative

and energy-efficient heat production, and carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS), as essential for meeting the 2035 emissions reduction targets. The full set of sectoral roadmaps is expected to be released soon and will likely also address lifecycle carbon measurement systems, demand-side interventions such as procurement policies, and strengthened regulatory frameworks.

Australia already has a clear process for carbon valuation. The Clean Energy Regulator facilitates a program to quantify Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), which assign a dollar value to each tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent. In November 2024, the Clean Energy Regulator reported that the ACCU price had risen to $42.50 – still relatively low compared to the global market. For instance, in 2024, the EU Emissions Trading System reported an average carbon price equivalent to AU $112.

Despite the lower price, the ACCU system remains a valuable mechanism that enables carbon to be factored into business decisions, encouraging more sustainable practices. Businesses can register carbon mitigation or abatement projects, which, once approved and completed, are awarded ACCUs. These can then be surrendered to the government at the prevailing price or traded with other businesses to offset emissions-offering direct financial benefits to participants.

As we approach the 2035 milestone for national decarbonisation and look further ahead to achieving net-zero by 2050, we can expect increasing interest, support and regulation around sustainability across government, industry and the community. The concrete sector has already laid strong foundations through the 2020 Decarbonisation Pathways for the Australian Cement and Concrete Sector report-a collaboration between SmartCrete CRC, Cement, Concrete and Aggregates Australia, and the Cement Industry Federation.

Progress has been made across the eight critical pathways identified in the report. These include increasing the use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), optimising concrete use through improved engineering design, and developing innovative CCUS solutions. However, to truly accelerate this transformation, we must also address the market, policy and skills barriers that hinder the adoption of new products and systems.

Real progress toward a decarbonised concrete supply chain will require shared language and measurement systems, enhanced risk-sharing frameworks, harmonised procurement policies, robust knowledge and skills transfer platforms, and increased access to

innovation investment. With a collaborative and systems-based approach, the Australian concrete sector is well positioned to become a global leader in supply chain innovation and decarbonisation.

SmartCrete Cooperative Research Centre is proud to continue supporting this critical work to underpin resilient concrete infrastructure for a sustainable Australian future.

Download full article – Roadshow Review CIA Mag 51.2