Australia must develop a new national training program to support development of a workforce that is equipped to deliver ‘net zero’ outcomes in the nation’s infrastructure sector, a new report has found.

Last week, Infrastructure Australia published the Delivering Net Zero Infrastructure Workforce Report.

The report identifies the make-up of the workforce that will be needed in order to decarbonise infrastructure projects to a scale which is necessary in order to achieve the Federal Government’s net zero emissions target by 2050.

It also identifies four recommendations which are needed in order to help the nation’s ‘net zero infrastructure workforce’ to upskill and grow.

According to the report, the importance of infrastructure to Australia’s goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 should not be underestimated.

Combined, it says that infrastructure and buildings account for almost one third of Australia’s carbon emissions and are indirectly linked to more than half of the nation’s emissions.

The report estimates that Australia currently has a ‘net zero infrastructure workforce’ of around 130,000 people.

This includes:

• 105,000 infrastructure workers (such as engineers, scientists, architects, project managers, technicians, trades workers and labourers) whose work contributes to net zero outcomes. This represents just over half of the nation’s overall infrastructure workforce of 198,000.
• A further 25,000 workers who are not typically captured in construction related occupations but who contribute to net zero infrastructure outcomes nonetheless. Thes include economists, financial and cost controllers and policy professionals.

In particular, the report identifies 36 occupations which are especially important. This includes construction managers, architects, engineers and tradespeople.

The report also identifies four recommendations to assist the infrastructure workforce to upskill and grow.

Of these, the key recommendation is for the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council to work with governments, other professional associations and educators to explore options to develop a new industry-wide training program to ensure that there is a nationally consistent approach to decarbonising major infrastructure projects.

Primarily speaking, this would be targeted at infrastructure professionals.

This includes architects, engineers, scientists, construction managers, business case developers and others who are able to influence carbon reduction outcomes during early project stages of planning and design.

This, the report says, is important as many of these professionals have a significant impact but have expressed low confidence in their ability to deliver up-front carbon reductions.

Initially, the program would focus on the high-level principles in carbon management in infrastructure.

This includes matters such as collaboration needed across professions as well as governance and leadership, roles and responsibilities and carbon in decision-making, measurement and reporting.

Longer term, the program could explore more in-depth training modules. This could include specific carbon measurement, low carbon solutions and the role and actions required from key professions in infrastructure decarbonisation.

Infrastructure Net Zero Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Consult Australia Jonathan Cartledge said the report is a critical step towards giving the industry the certainty it needs to invest into its workforce.

“The race to net zero infrastructure is also a race for skills,” Cartledge said.

‘For the first time, we have a clear picture of the workforce it will take. And this report sets out a pathway for industry and government to ensure we have the people to design and build that net zero future.”

The report was published by Infrastructure Australia in conjunction with the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council.

Other report partners and contributors include Consult Australia, Australasian Railway Association, Engineers Australia, the ACT Government, the Western Australian Government, Infrastructure Western Australia, Infrastructure SA, Queensland Government, Infrastructure Victoria, BuildSkills Australia, Infrastructure NSW, the Australian Government and Jobs and Skills Australia.

Debate over net zero

The latest report comes amid ongoing debate about Australia’s climate targets.

As things stand, the Federal Government is targeting carbon dioxide emissions reductions of 43 percent by 2030 and net zero by 2050 (a 2035 target is yet to be announced).

These targets are consistent with what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

In 2022, the IPCC stated that if the world is to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, worldwide greenhouse gas emissions need to peak before 2025, be reduced by 43 percent compared with 2005 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. This is in addition to substantial reductions in emissions of methane gas that will also be needed.

The, the IPCC argues, is necessary in order to reduce potential impacts which may be associated with global temperature increases in several areas. These are likely to include rising sea levels, more extreme temperatures, a greater number and intensity of heavy rainfall events and more droughts.

However, there has been pressure on the targets from several areas.

First, there are concerns that the nation will not meet its current targets.

In its latest update issued in June, the Climate Action Tracker website projected that  if the effects of activities relating to land-use, land-use change and forestry are excluded, Australia will achieve reductions of only 15-23 percent by 2030.

Moreover, some commentators in conservative media organisations have called for the net zero target to be scrapped.

They point out that none of the world’s top four emitters  – which together account for around two thirds of all greenhouse gas emissions – have a goal to achieve net zero by 2050. This includes, China, the US, India and Russia.

As a result, the Opposition Liberal/National Coalition is facing pressures to scrap the net zero target from its policy platform.

Enjoying Sourceable articles? Subscribe for Free and receive daily updates of all articles which are published on our site.

Want to grow your sales, reach more new clients and expand your client base across Australia’s design and construction sector?

Advertise on Sourceable and have your business seen by the thousands of architects, engineers, builders/construction contractors, subcontractors/trade contractors, property developers and building industry suppliers who read our stories across the civil, commercial and residential construction sector