As an industry that has proven sustainable and resilient in the face of natural disasters and technical failures, new challenges are now on the horizon. Climate change and a desire to achieve broader sustainability results are putting people under pressure to address how social, environmental, cultural and economic outcomes in their businesses can deliver long-term public value for New Zealand.
Climate change is exacerbating the risk of existing natural disasters — including flooding and drought and long-term sea-level rise. When asked to what extent sustainability should be considered in planning buildings and infrastructure, respondents have given the greatest consideration regarding the effects of natural disasters closely followed by technical failure. Considering the country’s experience with extreme weather events over the past year, it’s not surprising that natural disasters have been ranked at the top. However, most projects are designed to account for natural disasters and technical failures.
Investment planning for sustainability and resilience
Respondents ranked transitioning to a lower carbon economy and addressing climate change impacts slightly higher in importance than in 2021. And while climate change issues still receive little attention despite increasing awareness year-on-year, we can expect the industry’s emphasis on addressing this issue to continue to grow over the next few years. There is strong support for planning and resource management systems to ensure buildings, infrastructure and developments are placed in suitable locations away from rising sea levels and areas of frequent flooding, with several actions to address these risks already underway. A number of respondents called for greater unity between local and central governments on managing the main issues and ensuring that funding and opportunities for communities are evenly distributed. Taking on climate change will require greater collaboration and facilitation from the industry.
The challenges of responding to climate change
Several themes emerged when asking respondents about the biggest challenges the industry faces in responding to climate change. The least surprising response was the flooding risk of low-lying areas and the managed retreat that communities will require to combat and adapt to this challenge. Funding relating to the managed retreat and measures to reduce the impact of sea level rise was also a common issue. There is some concern among respondents that infrastructure development is still occurring in vulnerable areas, and more needs to be done to ensure climate change is a key consideration in infrastructure investment and planning. Another concern is that climate change risks compound existing risks and there is still a need to address that cities are built in vulnerable areas, so increased storm events will result in increased damaging and frequency of flooding in flood-prone areas.
While many industries are working to fill the gap left by the government, respondents cited that there is a lack of knowledge within the construction sector on how to deliver on ambitions such as net-zero carbon and climate change mitigation. Consistent and straightforward direction from the government is seen as essential to addressing uncertainty and putting policy into action. While producing this report, the Minister of Climate Change has published the National Adaptation Plan under section 5ZT of the Climate Change Response Act 2002. This is New Zealand’s first national adaptation plan and brings together the government’s current efforts to help build our climate resilience in one place and sets out a proposed future work programme, indicating priorities for the next six years.
Now the legislation has been set, there is an expectation that the industry will move forward to address the issues. However, there is still a large knowledge gap since many initiatives and projects are new to the industry and will require international skills and local upskilling.
Clarity and understanding needed to achieve broader sustainability outcomes
With the New Zealand government requiring the infrastructure industry to deliver broader cultural, economic, environmental and social outcomes through its procurement activities, we asked respondents to comment on likely impacts. There is consensus among respondents that in the short-term, education and upskilling of existing workers are key to generating informed support and change, with some commenting that they have already implemented these practices and are seeing better results in the longer term. This also shows the gulf between commitment and action, common among many organisations struggling to make high-level commitments a reality. There were negative responses about increased costs and time, especially in the planning stage. Some respondents believe they would only incur greater costs with no long-term benefit, making it harder to deliver projects. They did not see a need to consider broader outcomes; however, economic analyses have indicated that climate mitigation and adaptation now are cheaper than waiting.