Australia's worst buildings - analysis and report
Average Australian office produces same emissions as 415 cars, says new report
Conry Tech analysis of “Australia’s worst buildings”
Melbourne, 27 February 2025 – Conry Tech, a Melbourne based climate tech startup, today released its report “Australia’s Worst Buildings” on the colossal energy use and inefficiencies of Australia’s built environment. The report finds that the average Australian office building produces 432 tonnes of CO2 per year, the same emissions as 415 passenger vehicles. However, only 2% of 127,000 Australian offices are tracked by schemes designed to measure and reduce the energy use and emissions of commercial buildings. The majority of these buildings are rated as 5 stars or higher, giving building owners no incentive to improve efficiency and encouraging them to do the bare minimum.
Conry Tech is urging Australians businesses to opt for higher performing offices, and individuals to choose shopping centres and hotels based on their environmental impact to force building owners to make improvements. The report says that reducing the emissions of the built environment is essential for meeting net zero targets. Key findings from the report include:
The average NABERS rated office building produces 432 tonnes of CO2 per year, the same as 415 passenger vehicles.
Some Australian offices produce >6,000 tonnes of CO2/year.
Only a fraction of Australian buildings have a public energy efficiency rating – 2,000 out of 127,000 offices, 65 out of 9,000 Australian hotels, and only a tenth of shopping centres by area
More than half of NABERS rated offices now have a five-star energy rating or higher. There is little incentive for buildings to improve, and Conry Tech believes 5 stars should be harder to achieve, or more stars need to be added to the scale
15 of the worst performing 20 Australian buildings by annual energy use are shopping centres
There are 19 offices in Australia with a 0 NABERS rating, not even good enough to get onto the scales
One office in Melbourne reduced its annual CO2 emissions from 14 million kgs to just 4million kgs, which highlights how impactful retrofits and improvements can be
Conry Tech is a Melbourne based climate tech startup that can reduce energy use of commercial spaces by 40% with its small but powerful “Bull Ant” air-conditioning units – because HVAC is typically responsible for half of building’s annual energy use. The company has $8.9m in funding to date and is seeking investors for its Series A in 2025.
“From the outside, we see shiny office blocks and luxury hotels, but they are deeply flawed buildings and bad neighbours,” said Conry Tech co-founder and CEO, Sam Ringwaldt. “The built environment is a huge source of emissions, and we are only measuring the very tip of the iceberg. 98% of office spaces aren’t rated at all by current energy and emissions standards and the Government should be incentivising building owners to take every step possible to reduce emissions. As well as top-down pressure from regulators, Australian citizens have the power to enact change by staying away from our worst buildings. Environmental impact should be one of the biggest considerations when renting commercial space, and even a deciding factor when choosing a hotel. People can and should vote with their feet.
“Imagine a large multi-story car park and the annual emissions of every single car parked inside. That’s the environmental impact of the average Australian office building, and this is low hanging fruit for reducing national emissions. These buildings need better insulation, double-glazing, and to reduce the staggering energy use of their HVAC. Air-con is always one of the biggest energy drain in a commercial space, yet the industry has barely changed for 100 years. At Conry, we have reinvented aircon with a net-zero future in mind.”
About Conry Tech
Based in Melbourne, Conry Tech is a climate tech and HVAC innovator founded by Ron Conry and Sam Ringwaldt. Conry Tech is on a mission to save over a gigaton of Co2 emissions created by heating and cooling. Established in 2020, it is reinventing air-conditioning to make comfort sustainable, slash emissions, conserve energy , decarbonise the built environment, and enable a rapid transition to clean energy.