Frasers Property gains carbon neutral certification
01 December 2017
Diversified property group joins select group to achieve NCOS.
Frasers
Property Australia has been certified as a
carbon neutral organisation
under the
Australian Government’s National Carbon Offset Standard
(NCOS).
Frasers Property Australia joins a select group of organisations which
have all, or part, of their business NCOS certified. They include the
banks, ANZ, NAB and Westpac, the Cities of Sydney and Melbourne, real
estate group CBRE and only two other
property groups.
Carbon neutral certification under NCOS is achieved by first reducing
emissions from the business, then compensating for the remaining
emissions through the use of carbon offsets, and finally publicly
reporting on their carbon neutrality.
Paolo Bevilacqua, General Manager – Sustainability, Frasers Property
Australia says NCOS is the Australian benchmark for organisations
voluntarily seeking to be carbon neutral, and is based on a “rigorous
and transparent framework” using international standards.
“We started looking at carbon offsets to enable our new embedded energy
business, Real Utilities, to sell carbon neutral energy,” Mr Bevilacqua
says.
“Achieving carbon neutral status for the rest of our operations in
Australia was a logical next step.”
Frasers Property has long focused on sustainability and has introduced a
range of measures to reduce emissions from corporate offices,
construction sites and business activities.
The company’s sustainability focus has been reinforced by its
Singapore-based parent, Frasers Centrepoint, which is a signatory to the
United Nations Global Compact and is committed to reducing its energy
and water usage by 15 per cent between 2015 and 2025.
Frasers Property sustainability initiatives, which informed the carbon
neutral certification, include 6 Star
Green Star Interiors certification
for its offices, the purchase of 100 per cent Green Power where
possible, and the upgrading of video conferencing systems to reduce
interstate flights.
“The annual cost of our carbon offsets is quite low, as we’ve already
invested in highly carbon-efficient workplaces and careful waste and
energy management on our construction sites,” says Mr Bevilacqua.
“We were able to choose the initiatives that benefit from our offsets,
so we aligned these to our global business footprint.”
Rod Fehring, Chief Executive Officer, Frasers Property Australia says
while certification is a great achievement, it’s also a benchmark from
which the organisation will continue to improve its carbon performance.
“We are moving toward a carbon constrained economy. To respond to this
challenge, Frasers Property has effectively set an internal price for
carbon that will enable our people to better identify opportunities for
carbon reduction moving forward,” says Mr Fehring.
“Our objective is to move away from a reliance on offsets to maintain
certification and continually hone our business practices so we can be
offset neutral too,” he says.
Frasers Property chose four investments to benefit from its carbon
offsets last year.
-
Australian Biodiversity;
-
China Hydro, improving community infrastructure, providing education and stable electricity supply;
-
Thailand Biomass, improving respiratory health and creating local supply chains; and
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Indonesia Hydro, turning organic matter into fertiliser, reforestation and new roads and bridges.
For more details about Frasers Property’s sustainability strategy, A Different Way, visit www.frasersproperty.com.au/Sustainability.
--ENDS--
Source: Frasers Property - www.frasersproperty.com.au
Contact: N/A
External Links: www.frasersproperty.com.au/Sustainability.
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