In 2024, the department released a feasibility report on expanding the CBD Program. The report by KPMG titled ‘Expanding the Commercial Building Disclosure Program Feasibility of mandatory disclosure of energy ratings for most commercial buildings’ found that the CBD Program was performing well when compared with other programs internationally and, if expanded to other building types, could be a powerful tool in transitioning Australia’s commercial buildings to net zero. The KPMG report found that three policy options for expansion had significant merits, and that further cost benefit analysis and consultation on these options should be undertaken. The report included a suggested roadmap for introducing mandatory disclosure to most major commercial building sectors by 2035.
Public consultation
The department conducted public consultation on the expansion of the CBD Program between 14 June 2024 and 13 September 2024.
The department received a total of 46 submissions. Submissions could be made by completing an online survey or providing a written submission. Respondents could provide public or private submissions.
The following public submissions were made to the department:
- Yarra City Council.pdf
- Victorian Trades Hall Council.pdf
- The Hon Kylea Tink MP.pdf
- Rocksolid Design and Construction.pdf
- Refrigerants Australia and AREMA.pdf
- Property Council of Australia.pdf
- PCA Vic Sustainability Committee.pdf
- Parents for Climate.pdf
- JLL.pdf
- Green Building Council of Australia.pdf
- Facility Management Association of Australia.pdf
- Energy Efficiency Council.pdf
- Emma Smith.pdf
- EDD-RT survey.pdf
- EDD-RT submission.pdf
- City of Sydney.pdf
- City of Darwin.pdf
- City of Melbourne.pdf
- CIBSE.pdf
- Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council.pdf
- Asia-Pacific Data Centre Association.pdf
- AirTrunk.pdf
- AIRAH.pdf
- AHA and Accommodation Australia.pdf
- Abhinav Tiwari.pdf
- Anonymous 4.pdf
- Anonymous 6.pdf
- Anonymous 8.pdf
- Anonymous 14.pdf
- Anonymous 15.pdf
- Anonymous 20 survey.pdf
- Anonymous 20 submission.pdf
- Anonymous 46.pdf
The following documents were provided by the department for the consultation:
- CBD Program expansion consultation discussion paper
- KPMG report ‘Expanding the Commercial Building Disclosure (CBD) Program’
- High level CBD Program expansion road map (from KPMG Report)
You can find more information on the future expansion of the CBD Program here.
The 2019 CBD Program review, conducted by the Centre for International Economics, examined whether the CBD Program:
- was effective in improving the energy efficiency of commercial office buildings
- should be expanded to other high energy use commercial building sectors. These include hotels, serviced apartments, office tenancies, data centres, and shopping centres.
Due to the impacts of COVID-19 on the Australian economy the review was not finalised.
Public consultation
The draft report was published on this website and stakeholder workshops were held in October 2019:
Read the Draft Report: Independent review of the Commercial Building Disclosure Program [PDF 2.7 MB] [DOCX 4.6 MB]
Submissions on the draft report
Submissions that weren’t marked confidential include:
- Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) [PDF 565 KB]
- Accommodation Association of Australia [PDF 310 KB]
- Australian Retail Association [PDF 161 KB]
- City of Melbourne [PDF 251 KB]
- City of Sydney [PDF 249 KB]
- Energy Efficiency Council [PDF 584 KB]
- Green Building Council of Australia [PDF 719 KB]
- Green Moves Australia [PDF 600 KB]
- HFM Asset Management [PDF 83 KB]
- Macarthur Asset Management [PDF 226 KB]
- National Australian Built Environment Rating System [PDF 938 KB]
- National Retail Association [PDF 116 KB]
- Pro-Invest Group [PDF 57.0 KB]
- Property Council of Australia [PDF 312 KB]
- Sydney Water [PDF 435 KB]
- Tourism Accommodation Australia [PDF 655 KB]
Previous consultation
CIE released an issues paper in January 2019.
Read the Issues Paper: Review of the Commercial Building Disclosure Program [PDF 537 KB] [DOCX 421 KB]
Submissions on the issues paper
Submissions that weren’t marked confidential include:
In February 2016, the Australian Government released the report on the first independent review of Commercial Buildings Disclosure (CBD) Program. The review, produced by ACIL Allen Consulting, found the program to be a successful way of delivering significant benefits at a minimal cost to industry and government, achieving $44 million in benefits in its first four years.
The review also found that:
- The Commercial Building Disclosure Program is an appropriate program that complements a suite of related government policies and programs, and should continue.
- The CBD Program has been effective in inducing positive behavior change in relation to commercial building energy efficiency in affected buildings, resulting in significant benefits.
- The CBD Program remains the principal Commonwealth Government program for driving energy efficiency improvements in the office sector.
- The focus for the CBD program should remain on office buildings.
The review recommended lowering the threshold for mandatory disclosure of energy efficiency information on buildings from 2000m2 to 1000m2 to capture smaller office buildings. Stakeholders and the public were consulted about this, and the change was implemented on 1st July 2017.
The review also recommended extending the certification validity period for the energy efficiency office lighting assessment, known as a tenancy lighting assessment (TLA), from one to five years. This change was implemented on 1 September 2016.
- Download the CBD program review 2016 final report [PDF 1.7MB | DOCX 1.4MB]
- Download the Regulation Impact Statement for the change in disclosure threshold recommended in the 2016 review [PDF 3.2 MB | DOCX 6.9MB]