The 'greening' of buildings

These days we frequently hear about new commercial buildings which contain a host of green features, wind turbines, underfloor air-conditioning, blackwater recycling, green scapes - just to name a few, which are leading to real reductions in greenhouse emissions. But what about the 330 million square metres of existing commercial buildings around Australia? Most of these are more than 25 years old and account for approximately 10% of Australia's emissions.

The Institute in its submission to the Henry tax review suggested encouraging green behaviour through tax policy. It specifically recommended the introduction of specific provisions such as increasing depreciation rates for emissions-reducing capital expenditure.

Recently, the Labor Government announced a proposed new investment allowance for existing commercial buildings. In the proposal businesses will be able to claim a one-off 50 per cent tax deduction for capital works that improve energy efficiency of existing buildings. These could include initiatives such as, energy efficient lighting or air-conditioning.

The tax break will provide a real incentive for businesses to start upgrading commercial buildings across Australia. If the proposal goes ahead it will not be long before we start to marvel at the transformation of two star buildings into four or even five star eco-friendly developments.

I truly hope that this is the start of further measures that could be introduced through the tax system to complement other carbon reduction initiatives. The Institute would strongly support any tax reduction measures that would further contribute to the 'greening' of Australian businesses.

Could your building and business benefit from such measures? What ‘green’ measures are currently in place at your organisation? I would love to hear from you.