Climate Change

Why it’s so important

As the world’s population grows, so does the human impact on the earth, particularly when it comes to climate change. Recent reports claim that we are well on our way to a 3.2 degree warming by the end of the century if we don't begin to take drastic action now. Climate scientists around the world agree that to avoid devastating consequences, we need to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius. In 2015, 195 countries signed the Paris Agreement in a pledge to make this a reality, including Australia, the world’s eleventh-largest emitter of carbon per capita.

How we’re positioned to drive change

The built environment in Australia represents approximately 25 per cent of our total emissions, and as a major player within our property industry, Mirvac’s leadership can influence change. Given that our core business is focused on designing, creating and managing high-quality buildings, we have an important opportunity to make a difference to the environment and combat rising energy costs at the same time.

Our progress to date

In 2014, Mirvac made an industry-leading commitment to achieve net positive carbon emissions by 2030, and in 2019 we released our plan on how we'll achieve our target. The key steps we'll take include continuing to maximise energy efficiency and developing all-electric buildings powered by 100 per cent renewable energy. We’ve also started our own energy company and installed over two megawatts of renewable energy, built our first House with No Bills, and have continued to pursue higher NABERS energy ratings across our office portfolio. The portfolio now boasts three 6 Star, two 5.5 Star and seven 5 Star NABERS energy buildings, with four 6 Star Green Star Performance buildings.

What’s next?

As we work towards reducing our carbon intensity by a further 5 per cent by 2021, we’ll maintain the climate competency of our Board, and continue to expand our investment in renewable energy. In fact, from 2019 all our new residential projects will include solar. In addition, we’re reviewing climate risk at a portfolio level, including both physical and transition risk. From there, and in line with the recommendations set out by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, we’ll share the actual and potential risks of climate change on our business, as well as our approach to managing these risks and the metrics and targets we’ll use to measure our success.