Sustainable Development Goals and the Built Environment in Australia

This essay explores the relationship between the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the built environment in Australia. It examines the challenges Australia faces in achieving these goals, particularly in areas like clean energy, climate change, and biodiversity. The essay highlights the importance of sustainable building practices, green building certifications, and the preservation of cultural heritage in contributing to a more sustainable future. It also discusses the role of organizations like CASBE and GBCA in promoting sustainable built environments in Australia.

ARBE2101
Construction Ecology 2
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Essay
Being at the fringe of global transmutation the UN members have set new targets to build a more
flourishing and more secure world by the end of the year 2030. The Sustainable Development goals
will focus on 17 key areas:
1. Poverty,
2. Quality Education,
3. Hunger,
4. Well-being,
5. Clean Water and Sanitation,
6. Gender equality,
7. Affordable clean energy,
8. Decent work and economic growth,
9. Infrastructure, industry, and innovation,
10. Climate actions,
11. Reduced inequalities,
12. Sustainable cities and communities,
13. Sustainable consumption and production,
14. Life below water,
15. Life on land,
16. Peace justice and strong institutions
17. Partnership for the goals.
These seventeen Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets are adopted by the 193 State
members at UN General Assembly Summit as a part of 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda in
September 2015. These goals will be commenced from January 2016. ‘Leaving No One Behind” is
the core principle of this global agenda 2030. This aspiring plan will make the world partnership
between government and non-government institutions, civil society and the people for the
betterment of the world. (UN News Centre, 2015)
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Development and need for UN Sustainable Development Goals
After the success of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were executed from the year
2000 onwards, the world government negotiated on a set of Sustainable Development Goals for the
year 2015 to 2030. The SDG will continue fighting the MDGs goal like poverty, hunger, and
preventable diseases. Along with these goals, they will add challenges to ensure impartial economic
growth and sustainable environment.
The need for sustainable development starts from our overcrowded planet which is approximately
nine times of the people calculated to live in the year 1750 i.e. at the go-ahead of Industrial
Revolution. The population is rising continuously by approximately 75 million individuals each
year. With this growing population, we need to make the world economy grow rapidly and cease
the unequal distribution of wealth confined within and between countries of the globe. In our
world, few people enjoy stupendous wealth and few faces enormous poverty. These conditions of
the world are extremely frightening to the global world. Thus we arrived to develop sustainable
development objectives which would suggest societal objectives and goals for the world to flourish.
SDOs interact with the three intricate systems: the economy of the world, the global society and
physical environment of the society. To accomplish all these objective proper governances is
required. Hence within the framework of UN, this global government is attempting to overcome the
environmental crisis faced today. (World Economic Forum, 2014)
According to Mr. Wu Hongbo, (UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs) if
we continue to consume and produce like it is today, we will fail to sustain the resources of our
planet. So we all need to work collaboratively on SD goals to change the way our planet is treated
today. Sustainability is not limited to one person or country, it belongs to all because it is directly
related to our environment and resources that are depleting day by day, hence harming our future
generations. (UN News Centre (I), 2015)
Relationship between the Sustainable Development Goals and built environment in Australia
Even though Australia is a home to some world’s most happening cities, but it needs to a travel a
long way to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. When comparing the nations based on their
performance on SDGs, Australia ranks to be on 20th position which is ahead of US but behind
Canada and other European Countries.
Australia is known to emit the highest carbon outrush per person in the world; hence it is rated low
on Clean Energy and Climate Change SDGs. With Loss of Biodiversity, high levels of solid wastes
and land clearance, Australia is poorly rated on Environmental SDGs as well. Australia is also
known to rank high in rates of obesity around the world. However, Australia ranks second on social
and economic development but need to accomplish the goals for environmental sustainability.
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The chart below clearly describes Australia's performance on the 17 SDGs which clearly depicts
that Australia highly lacks in poverty, education and clean water and sanitation. (The Conversation,
2016)
Sustainability issue/s in the built environment and their appropriate solution/s
According to Doyon, et. al., (2017) to make a relevant progress in direction of sustainable cities,
Australia building and land use policies need to be reconsidered. A research reported that a large
number of new buildings in Australia don’t even satisfy the minimum construction requirements
which means that State Planning Systems and building codes are not achieving the SDG of a clean
environment by emitting high carbon.
The answer to the question - “As to how important is the role of build environment in achieving
SDG?” is that it is an outstanding contribution to anthropogenic climate control. At present, the
residential built environment accounts for consuming 12 % of final energy and 13% of emissions in
Australia.
CASBE (The Council Alliance for Sustainable Built Environments) in Victoria is one institution
that works with the local government in designing and achieving clean environment goals. They
have implemented local policies, decisions, and range of assessment tools to sustain the
environment. Comprehensible and enforceable standards are essential in both building and planning
ordinances. ASBEC (Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council) is another nonprofit
organization that commits their time energy and resources to develop practical opportunities for
sustainable built environments in Australia.
According to Australian Government, (2013) Australia has now taken a step forward to practice
sustainable building practices with the help of their design and planning practices that will be
environmentally friendly and resource efficient. Australia Green Building Industry has partnered to
develop sustainable build environments domestically and internationally.
Green Building Council of Australia checks the maturity of the sustainable market by its Green Star
Rating tool which is called a voluntary national environment rating system. Till now 550 projects
ranging from offices to schools to retail centers to hospitals have received Green Star certification.
Few benefits of Green building designs are:
• Low operation cost
• High investment return
• High tenant attraction
• High Productivity
• Eliminates liability and risk
• Health place to live and work
• Future Proofed assets.
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Decisions about the retention of cultural heritage
For instance, Newcastle first subterranean water reservoir in Cook Hills which was established in
1862 was closed soon. This built environment has been shut for almost 50 years now. But this water
reservoir is been prepared to open for the people to let people see its engineering marvel. It was
built before Newcastle had electricity network or a train line to Sydney. According to Kevin
Humphries (minister of Natural Resources, Land, and water), successful opening of this reservoir
will be an important milestone in Newcastle History. According to Kim wood, Managing Director
of Hunter Water ’s said that opening the reservoir for public and allowing them to climb down to
the Reservoirs belly will depict the History of water supply and life in late 1800’s. Stairs Lights and
improved ventilation are few additions to make the site accessible to the public. The site is planned
for its first tour in early 2015.
Earlier when this reservoir was not built, people used to fetch water from backyard wells, which
resulted in water pollution from sewage and other sources. The death rate was approximately 42.6
per 1000 residents at that time. This reservoir was designed to hold two million liters of water
satisfying the needs of 800 homes or you can say 3000 peoples.
This Water reservoir is a perfect example of an Aging built environment which is now getting
sustained and preserving Australia’s Heritage. Like this reservoirs, there are many cultural old built
environments that were demolished. (Kelly, 2014)
Written media
For completing 17 SDGs, a conference was set up among the participants from government,
academia, business and civil society to design a roadmap and work collaboratively to fulfill the
SDGs for Australia. Australia mainly lacks in adult obesity, high rates of carbon emissions leading
to climate pollution and low adoption of renewable energy technologies. Five recommendations
were made to scale up the challenges for Australia to sustain their SDGs.
• To rising inequality where few are extremely rich and others incredibly poor, businesses must pay
their honest share of taxes to address this inequality.
• Since today's youth is well educated, mentored and resourced, no SDG can be achieved without
them. So it is important to engage them in accomplishing the SDGs.
• To have carbon neutral buildings and cities i.e. to achieve net zero environmental impacts in
terms of water consumption, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions etc.
• A good political leadership is required to design and calculate efforts towards the SDGs.
• A partnership among the nations, groups and UN Agencies is must achieve the SDGs. (Shah,
2016)
In the year 2002, GBCA (Green Building Council of India) was established to adopt practices for
green buildings by rating the building with Green Star in terms of their environment-friendly
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buildings. This rating system helps the built environment assessed and compared by letting
developer’s owners and occupants know that six-star building is better than four-star one.
Heritage buildings tell stories traditions events and experiences from the past to the future
generations. Hence these buildings need to be constantly refreshed, maintained and preserved on a
regular basis. Once an old built environment his lost, it loses to significance and lost in people’s
memory. So it’s the fundamental duty of the local community and society to protect their heritage
and preserve them for future generations. One such example is of Number one water reservoir in
Cook Hills which is a unique landmark in Newcastle. This reservoir was closed early and has seen
some lights after so long when Hunter water decides to open it for the public to visit and help them
take a glimpse of lives in the late 1800s.
Hence a sustainable built environment must be water efficient with minimal wastage, it should use
natural sources of energy and optimizing the energy resources, Recycling of renewable resources
like rainwater harvesting, green cover in and around the buildings and healthy environment for the
occupants.
Few examples of Sustainable Green Buildings across the globe are -
• Council House 2, Australia
• Shangai Tower, China
• The Edge, Netherlands
• One Angle Square, UK
• Nabk of America Tower, US
• One Bryant Park, USA
• Peral River Tower, China
• Suzlon One Earth, India (Go Smart Bricks, 2017)
In the above assignment, Sustainable Development Goals by the UN for the year 2015 -2030 have
been discussed. The main focus has been on the SDGs where Australia needs to work hard. Clean
Environment, Low carbon emissions, and constructing environment-friendly green star buildings
are the main focus for Australia. SDG is a result of the overcrowded population. Later the
assignment briefs how Australia his trying to achieve the sustainable environment with the help of
few nonprofit organizations like CASBE, GBCA etc to achieve their goal. It is also important to
sustain the old age built environment to preserve the natural and cultural heritage of Australia.
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References
Australian Government, (2013), Green and Sustainable Building, [Online], Available at:
https://www.austrade.gov.au/greenbuildings/ [Accessed 31 March 2018]
Doyon, A., Joe, H., Monley, S., and Moore, T., (2017), Sustainable cities? Australia’s building and
planning rules stand in the way of getting there, [Online], Available at:
https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/planning/sustainable-cities-australias-building-
and-planning-rules-stand-in-the-way-of-getting-there [Accessed 30 March 2018]
Go Smart Bricks, (2017), 20 Most Sustainable and Green Building Examples From Across the
Globe, [Online], Available at: http://gosmartbricks.com/sustainable-and-green-building-
examples/ [Accessed 31 March 2018]
Kelly, M., (2014), Hunter Water to open historic city reservoir for tours, [Article], Available at:
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2386476/hunter-water-to-open-historic-city-reservoir-
for-tours-photos/ [Accessed 30 March 2018]
Shah, V., (2016), 5 ways Australia can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, [Article],
Available at: http://www.eco-business.com/news/5-ways-australia-can-achieve-the-
sustainable-development-goals/ [Accessed 31 March 2018]
The Conversation, (2016), Australia ranks 20th on progress towards the Sustainable
Development Goals, [Online], Available at: https://theconversation.com/australia-ranks-
20th-on-progress-towards-the-sustainable-development-goals-62820 [Accessed 30 March
2018]
UN News Centre, (2015), Sustainable Development Goals, [Article], Available at:
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ [Accessed 29
March 2018]
UN News Centre (I), (2015), Why should you care about the sustainable development goals?,
[Article], Available at: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015/09/why-
should-you-care-about-the-sustainable-development-goals/ [Accessed 30 March 2018]
World Economic Forum, (2014), Why we need the UN’s sustainable development goals, [Article],
Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2014/09/sustainable-development-goals-
jeffrey-sachs/ [Accessed 29 March 2018]
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