Rise and thrive

This week, we unveiled Rise and Thrive – a new report developed in collaboration with Gateway Bank that lays out the financial case for sustainable living in hard numbers. The standout stat? A Green Star-rated apartment delivers an impressive $110,000 in financial benefits over 30 years, thanks to energy savings, green home loan repayment reductions and property appreciation.

The surge in Green Star Buildings registrations is another sign of momentum – growing from just five apartments in 2021 to 142 in 2024. This represents around 27,500 individual apartments.

And the stories of industry leadership continue to inspire. This week we launched Green Star Communities v2, an update that will help industry deliver well designed communities, ready for the future. Last month, Ingenia Communities achieved the first large-scale rollout of Green Star Homes, and all within a Green Star Community. The Green Star Homes Designed assessment for all 262 homes in this community, in the Victorian suburb of Beveridge, is worth shouting from the rooftops.

Ingenia CEO John Carfi put it best: Green Star Homes assessment isn’t just a win for senior Australians wanting sustainable, affordable housing. It will “drive the adoption of sustainable design and construction methodologies across Australia.” More on this in Green Building Voice this month.

We are also spotlighting Upper House in South Brisbane, a 5 Star Green Star-rated, 32-storey residential tower that blends efficiency, low emissions and spectacular architecture. As Upper House’s architect Koichi Takada says: “When people love a space, they’ll not only enjoy it today but pass it on to future generations. That’s true sustainability.”

While voluntary leadership continues, the policy landscape is becoming more complex. A moratorium on National Construction Code (NCC) updates certainly wasn’t on my 2025 bingo card. The NCC isn’t an old book of rules – it is a living standard that ensures the safety, resilience and sustainability of buildings being constructed today can meet the challenges of tomorrow. Therefore the Productivity Commission’s call for a review – and potentially a pause – on updates is deeply concerning.

The voluntary market leads; regulation lifts the rest. But without strong national alignment, the whole industry is held back. Our submission to the Productivity Commission and our message to building ministers couldn’t be clearer: when some states “press pause” on NCC updates  we end up with a fragmented approach that drives up compliance costs for industry and slows progress of our delivery of cost-effective, climate-resilient, fit-for-purpose buildings.

The world is changing in 2025 and ESG is under pressure. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025 paints a stark picture. In the short term, geopolitical instability, economic volatility, cyber warfare and misinformation dominate. But looking 10 years ahead, five of the top 10 global risks are environmental.

And let’s not forget: 2024 was the hottest year on record, crossing the critical 1.5-degree threshold for the first time. The buildings we construct today will shape how we live tomorrow.

Businesses are navigating rising costs, regulatory scrutiny and political pushback. The challenge for sustainability leaders is clear: How do we remain a beacon in the blizzard?

Our focus for Green Star in 2025 is reducing friction – making sustainability the easy, obvious choice. The world changes, but the fundamentals stand firm. As Every Building Counts lays out in black and white: better, more efficient buildings are in everyone’s interest, regardless of the colour of the government.

Big challenges lie ahead, and we’ll be walking alongside our industry every step of the way. We’ll also unpack these issues at TRANSFORM from 18-20 March in Sydney. With less than a month to go, now is the time to book your ticket if you haven’t already.

We are in the defining years of the critical decade. This is our moment to rise to the occasion – and to position our nation to thrive.