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Improved building energy efficiency has been shown to contribute substantially to global greenhouse gas abatement objectives. Realisation of these benefits depends on the deployment of appropriate policy instruments. Building energy codes have the potential to deliver economic, environmental, societal and other strategic benefits. Australia’s high per capita greenhouse emissions and rates of building construction provide a national case study in climate policy development. Insights into reform of Australia’s National Construction Code also provide evidence-based analysis of the efficacy of market-based energy efficiency measures, demonstrating that building energy codes are a cost-effective greenhouse emission reduction instrument and also that market failures inhibit the effectiveness of conventional economic instruments in reducing building sector greenhouse emissions. Although building energy codes do provide a potentially transformative intervention in the property market, their effectiveness is bedevilled by problems with enforcement and stakeholder behaviour in service. Addressing these impediments calls for targeted policy packages to bridge identified gaps between presumptive building performance objectives and outcomes actually observed in practice.

It is now established that energy use in buildings is a significant source of global greenhouse gas emissions and that abatement by the building sector can provide significant social, economic and environmental benefits. This paper examines the application of socio-technical transition theory to the building sector with Australian energy policy as a case study. The relatively high level of local building construction offers significant opportunities for market transition with appropriate policy settings so this national case has international implications. Evolution of building energy efficiency standards through the Australian National Construction Code is scrutinized by benchmarking the building energy code against international best practice. The benchmarking underscores the contribution high performance energy efficient buildings could make to a low carbon transition with appropriate policy settings. Specifically government intervention in the building sector through direct regulation was shown to have substantial potential to effect this transition. Nevertheless, such intervention has proven to be politically controversial in Australia. The paper provides a twofold contribution to research in the domain of building energy policy. Firstly, by making the connection between transition theory and the role of building energy codes; secondly, by demonstrating the practical application and utility of a structured building code benchmarking process.