I am on a mission to help steer New Zealand towards becoming the world’s first, fully sustainable economy. I believe that New Zealand will profit enormously – economically, environmentally and socially – if we marshal our collective resources and show the world how it can be done.

The realities of climate change mean that the shift to a low carbon economy is inevitable. It’s our choice, as leaders, if we want to step up and respond to it, and to profit from the opportunities it presents.

New Zealand is currently way behind on this journey. Before I became Green Party co-leader, most of my career was spent working with businesses the world over in their efforts to become more sustainable. When I returned to New Zealand in 2010, I was distressed to discover that we are so far behind on this pathway to sustainability that we are in very real danger of missing out on the greatest opportunity of this generation.

My speciality was in working with business teams to build solutions to seemingly intractable problems. In government, I want to do much the same. The role of government is to help create a vision that clearly defines an identity and a place in the world for New Zealand moving into the future. It’s also the role of government to help set out the pathway to enable us to succeed. I strongly believe that this identity needs to be intrinsically tied to sustainability.

I want to make it easy for the businesses that want to lead on sustainability to do so. If you’re a business wanting to make the shift towards sustainability, you’ve had very little central government incentive to do so. We need to at least level the playing field, if not actively tilt it, so we can create the first truly sustainable economy in the world.

The building and construction sector is fundamental to this pathway to sustainability. There are myriad smart, green opportunities in the building and construction sector, like the use of structural timber, solar panels, insulation and energy efficiency, as well as smart urban design.

I recently visited Christchurch, where the devastation of the earthquakes has left behind significant opportunities, including the potential to be the sustainable building capital of the world.

The scale of rebuilding a whole city means there is the space and opportunity for real leadership in this area – for green, sustainable buildings, generating their own power, dealing with their own wastewater. Beautiful, functional buildings integrated with public transport, working better for the people and resilient to the reality of our changing coastline. To be a city that’s part of the solution to climate change, rather than a perpetuation of the problem.

Unfortunately in Christchurch we’ve seen government obstacles in the way of achieving a truly sustainable rebuild across the region. Despite the lack of vision and leadership from government, there are still some remarkable examples of greening the rebuild.

The recent awarding of the country’s first 10 Homestar rating by the New Zealand Green Building Council for a new build in central Christchurch is the perfect demonstration of what’s achievable. The design of this home, particularly through its smart energy, water and waste features, shows what’s possible. This is the future of building.

We’re seeing this sort of sustainable building happening around the world. In England, new building regulations to be introduced next year will include zero carbon homes standards and minimum on-site energy performance standards for new builds.

The French Government has also demonstrated the necessary leadership, by requiring all new commercial building roofs to be covered in either solar panels or plants. Toronto has had a similar law since 2009, mandating green roofs on new buildings.

Smart, regulatory steps like these by government could lead the way for New Zealand to become the world’s first fully sustainable economy.

We just need the leadership.

We have no excuses not to be more ambitious than we’re being.