Pathways to Net Zero Precincts – Policy and Practice

Supervisors

Prof Peter Newman

Dr. Alessandro Sanches Pereira

The project

Urgent action is required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions so that the world has a chance of meeting the targets agreed upon in the Paris Agreement. This action needs to be done in a transparent, credible manner with integrity to ensure that actions to reach net zero emissions match commitments. Cities are responsible for more than 70% of global GHG emissions and their building blocks, precincts, provide the perfect scale to take this action to achieve net zero emissions. Therefore, precinct developers and operators will need to have credible net zero commitments and be able to communicate their actions and status in a transparent manner.

Certification of a precinct as net zero provides the mechanism by which this can happen and for certification to take place with integrity there needs to be rigorous accounting of the net zero precinct’s claims to demonstrate alignment of actions with commitments, to display credibility, have radical transparency and be held accountable to third parties.

As part of the Pathways to Net Zero Precincts Project, this PhD project will investigate the primary components that enable net zero certification of an urban precinct with integrity through the use of data from the precincts within the project.

Scholarship value
RACE for 2030 will provide a living stipend scholarship for 3 years of $38,000 per annum (tax exempt). RACE for 2030 does not cover international tuition fees if they apply. RACE for 2030 will also supply up to $3,000 per annum for expenses for the candidate, for items such as a computer, publishing fees, travel or conference costs. We encourage female-identifying and Indigenous applicants to apply.