Craft Homes Look at Political Parties' Proposed Answers to the Climate Change Question

The 2020 General Election in New Zealand has come and gone, and the results are out. This year, 2,877,116 votes will be counted, an estimated 82.5% turnout from the total enrolled votes—a good improvement from the 79.8% turnout in 2017. After all, 1% of votes this year equals to 28,771 people!

There are plenty of reasons why more Kiwis have been prompted to vote—whether that’s concerns for the economic effects of the pandemic or the inevitable effects of climate change, and Craft Homes are particularly interested in the latter, keeping an eye out on proposed party policies for more sustainable construction, especially in the residential sector.

To help with this, they studied https://policy.nz , a government website that collected every party’s policies on different issues/topics., and the following is a breakdown of what each party had planned to improve sustainability practices in New Zealand’s residential construction sector, starting with the Green Party.

It makes sense to begin this policy review with the Green Party, as it’s the political party most concerned with environmentalism and issues around climate change. The Green Party’s policies had a particular focus on better housing in terms of improving energy efficiency and overall home health, which is something Craft Homes stand for through building sustainable eco homes.

The party’s policies relevant to sustainable housing include building code reform for improving residential properties’ energy and water efficiency, warmth, dryness and accessibility, working towards new building standard of net zero energy builds by 2030, and minimising high-emissions materials and maximise materials such as wood.

They will also introduce mandatory energy efficiency ratings for buildings, and continue the Building for Climate Change Programme which aims to reduce buildings’ emissions during both construction and operation phase, and supporting the sustainable building materials industry, particularly sustainable timber processing and prefabricated buildings. They will provide grants for homeowners to fund half the cost of installing rooftop solar and batteries (4kW solar system for standard-sized homes) and install solar power on all state houses, and give every household five free energy-efficient LED light bulbs.

The New Zealand Labour Party also pushed for more sustainable and energy-efficient building construction, although not quite as hard as the Greens. Additionally, they plan to continue improvements for home insulation and ventilation, pushing forward with the Building for Climate Change programme to reduce the industry’s carbon emissions.

They will require state agencies to build and lease more energy-efficient buildings at a GreenStar 5 or 6 equivalent, and will continue to implement the 3-year Construction Sector Transformation Plan from the Construction Accord to help lift the sector’s performance.

They will also increase funding for insulation and heating retrofits for 9,000 low-income households through the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme, with a $56 million budget allocation, and increase the grand proportion from 67% to 90% for insulation and/or heating retrofit costs.

This year, the National Party focused on their climate change efforts on the transport sector mostly through supporting the electric vehicle industry, as they believe this is where the country can make the most effective emission reductions.

If you would like a more in-depth look into sustainable housing, you can read Craft Homes’ Sustainable Building page to learn more, or give their team a call and they will be happy to answer any questions you may have, and for more information on green homes NZ, eco homes NZ and sustainable home renovation please go to https://www.crafthomes.co.nz .