Development of a carbon trading framework for the construction industry

Abstract

As efforts in curbing global warming gather pace, carbon trading has become essentially fundamental in attaining net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon trading is a complex market system that sets itself the simple goal of ensuring companies and governments can meet emission reduction targets. In Australia, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) has the responsibility of administering the nation’s carbon trading markets. Current carbon trading systems were originally not developed for the construction industry, and it is an emerging concept in the construction industry. The aim of this research was to contribute to carbon emissions reduction by developing a carbon trading framework for the construction industry. Arising from the research aim, the research objectives set were to: i.) develop a theoretical framework that explains the mechanisms involved in carbon trading in the construction industry; ii.) develop an index for measurement of carbon trading theoretical framework components in the construction industry; iii.) identify a suitable technique to model carbon trading system for the built environment; iv.) build, simulate and validate a model for carbon trading system in the construction industry; and v.) develop carbon trading implementation and management framework for the construction industry.

This research adopted the pragmatism philosophical stand in developing carbon trading system for the construction industry. Expert forum was used to rank the factors in the theoretical framework and further develop an index. Target population was made up of vii experts who had expertise in the construction industry and also experience in carbon trading projects. Fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) was adopted in developing measurement indices for the factors in the seven sub-groups in the theoretical framework. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to develop an integrative model that assessed the relationships among the factors in the theoretical framework. There were both positive and negative correlations among the constructs in the SEM models. This achieved objective three.

This research is useful and serves as a guide for stakeholders in formulating sound policies and best practices to ensure the construction industry meets its carbon emissions reduction targets. This thesis provides diverse stakeholders such as governments, non-governmental organisations, local construction firms among others with tools for decision support. This emanates from the simulation and conceptual models developed in this system for carbon trading in the construction industry.

Date of Thesis submission	2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Sponsors	Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship
Supervisor	Xiaohua Jin (Supervisor), Robert Osei-Kyei (Supervisor) & Srinath Perera (Supervisor)