The Fifth Estate has released Australia’s first guide Environmental Upgrade Agreements (EUAs), a finance mechanism with the potential to unlock billions of dollars required to upgrade our aging and unsustainable existing building stock.
Backed by legislation in Victoria and New South Wales, EUAs allow repayments for loans for environmental upgrades to buildings to be tied to council rates. While EUAs have existed in Australia since 2010, the industry has been slow to adopt them.
According to Managing Editor of The Fifth Estate, Tina Perinotto, “the problem to date has been a cautious Australian property industry, which likes to proceed on solid ground. New ideas are turned over and examined in every possible light, and this mechanism has been thrown every curly ‘what if’ question that can be mustered.”
“This eBook provides the industry with solutions to their concerns and will hopefully kick-start them into action,” Ms Perinotto said.
“The eBook outlines the huge potential of EUAs at a time when half of Australia’s B and C grade buildings are nearing 20 years of age and are well past their ‘use-by’ date.”
“Australia’s existing buildings are the last frontier when it comes to greening the property industry. EUAs will provide the financial mechanism to ignite the next green building revolution,” Ms Perinotto says.
Scott Bocskay, Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Melbourne Fund, feels strongly that “building owners and tenants need to be informed about the unprecedented opportunity that EUAs present.
“We want to ensure that the industry understands how to reap the benefits and leverage EUAs to develop retrofit projects and boost revenue,” he said.
“I congratulate The Fifth Estate for taking the initiative to write this comprehensive guide, which I believe will become a valuable industry resource for anyone looking for business opportunities associated with EUAs”.
Sponsored by Siemens, Norman Disney & Young, NuGreen, NAB, Napier & Blakeley and Cundall, the guide outlines all the opportunities presented by EUAs and covers issues such as the type of refurbishments that suit particular buildings; the finance and accounting profiles for potential deals and how to engage the various stakeholders to bring projects to fruition. It also exposes the stumbling blocks and barriers that EUAs can help overcome.
