Seafarer’s Rest begins construction
Property developer Riverlee has started construction on Seafarers Rest Park, a proposed 3500 sq m public park on the Birrarung (Yarra River) in Melbourne.
The park is set to form a key link within the City of Melbourne’s Greenline Project. The Project is due to rehabilitate the northern banks of the Yarra River, as reported by The Fifth Estate last year.
The park will form part of Riverlee’s Seafarers Precinct on the river’s north bank and will offer a green oasis that acknowledges its indigenous cultural heritage and maritime history in its design.
The park is due to be completed later this year as Riverlee continues to restore and redevelop the heritage-listed Goods Shed No.5 into a $600 million mixed-use precinct – due to house 114 hotel-branded residences, 277 hotel rooms by 1 Hotel and Homes Melbourne.
Building 4.0 CRC in new housing work
Building 4.0 CRC and the New South Wales government have embarked on a $4 million research and development program to work on new ways to build homes and include a series of prototypes and medium density social housing projects.
The program will use modern methods of construction (MMC) in the 50:50 funded partnership.
CEO of Building 4.0 Professor Mathew Aitchison said the o?site manufacturing system would deliver certainty, safety and higher quality design and sustainability outcomes.
“We have deep MMC expertise and innovation locally that we can grow, and we will be working closely with the local manufacturing industry to scale and upskill,” he said.
Procurement policy
Gongs for Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek at least on one score recently after she delayed some of the expected environmental protection measures recently after pressure from the mining industry (do they ever go to sleep?). The Infrastructure Sustainability Council says the new Environmentally Sustainable Procurement Policy has will be useful for the council as one of the metrics endorsed by the new policy was achieving a verified rating from the ISC.
New facility turns plastic waste into building materials
CRDC Global has opened its first Australian RESIN8 facility in Tottenham in Melbourne’s west. The centre will turn traditionally hard to recycle hard to recycle plastics into building materials that can be used in structural and non-structural building applications.
The facility is the result of a partnership between the company and the Australia and New Zealand Recycling Platform (ANZRP), a not-for-profit that provides free and easy e-waste disposal for Australian households and small businesses. The company is also collaborating with the Soft Plastics Recycling Taskforce to find a solution to recycling supermarket soft plastic waste. The facility is understood to have the capacity to process 1 metric tonne of plastic per hour.
HIA calls for skilled labour in the federal budget
The Housing Industry Association says the building sector has an acute shortage of skilled trades and is “compounded by other government programs drawing workers away from the residential building industry”.
The HIA managing director Jocelyn Martin has called on the government to increase skilled labour and apprentices in Australia via this year’s upcoming federal budget, stating that the 1.2 million new homes promised in the government’s national housing accord “can’t be built with only a few hands”. She has asked the government to maintain the current national priority wage subsidy arrangement for employers to take on apprentices beyond 1 July, when the Australian apprentice incentive system is reviewed.
EV chargers bring economic benefits, says new research
Electric vehicle charging providers JOLT has found that communities local to EV chargers receive up to $90,000 in incremental spending every year for every charging station installed. In research conducted across the company’s customer base, including hundreds of EV drivers nationwide, customers indicated they specifically visited retail locations by the street side chargers and wouldn’t have if the chargers were not there.
Popular activities during a 30 minute charging session include shopping, grabbing a coffee or enjoying a meal at the local café or restaurant.
Of those surveyed, 68 per cent indicated it was important to access an EV charger near a local business, 57 per cent indicated that they align their charging with access to retail activity, and 70 per cent indicated they spend up to $50 at a local business during a single charge.
As EV ownerships grow, JOLT is expecting spending to rise up to $150,000 per charger.
New tech to prevent pole-top fires
Dr Tariq Nazir and his team at RMIT have collaborated with UNSW to create power pole insulators that are resistant to fire and electrical sparking.
Power poll tops can catch fire with consecutive days of hot, dry, and windy are followed by damp and misty conditions.
In March, power pole top fires cut power to more than 40,000 properties in Perth.
The engineers now want to transition the research to larger-scale production processes.
New art exhibition to promote thoughts about nature
Something fun: Touring exhibitionZOONOSES will open at the Hurstville Museum and Gallery this week. The collection by Dr Nicola Hooper explores the relationships between humans and animals especially on the contradictory perception of certain animals to a fear of zoonoses – animal diseases that can infect humans.
The exhibition will be displayed from 4 May to 28 July at Hurstville Museum and Gallery as part of its regional and metropolitan tour around Australia.
APRIL 2024
ISPT’s new $1.5 billion sustainability-linked loan facility
24 April: If you can prove you have great results in things like emissions intensity, waste reduction, water consumption, and labour certification, you can qualify for lower cost sustainability linked loans.
ISPT met the challenges and recently sheeted home “one of the largest real estate credit deals in Australia in recent times” it says, via a $1.5 billion sustainably-linked syndicated term loan that brings its sustainability-linked loans to a total of $5.75 billion.
There were 20 lenders taking part in the transaction including Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), ANZ, Westpac and HSBC were joint mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners and joint sustainability coordinators, the company said in addition.
Chief sustainability officer Steven Peters said: “Connecting our debt facilities through SLLs that are aligned with our ESG Strategy is another way that we hold ourselves accountable for delivering on our sustainability commitments. We believe that this transaction reinforces ISPT’s approach to embedding responsible investment into every facet of our operations.”
This is ISPT’s third SLL having restructured the ISPT Retail Australia Property Trust’s (IRAPT) bank facilities as SLLs in September 2021 and the completion of $2.8 billion SLL for the ISPT Core Fund in April 2021.
Delays to appliance standards costing Aussies 3.4 billion
Aussie consumers are paying $3.4 billion extra yearly as gas and inefficient electric appliances are being installed instead of efficient electric equivalents, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
While fossil gas has historically provided a cheap energy source for winter, a new report from the organisation said that many households are locking in significant long-term costs when their space heating, hot water, and cooking appliances reach the end of its life. A massive 940,000 new gas appliances are still being installed across the country each year along with 800,000 new “resistive” electric appliances.
If these consumers used heat pumps instead, they’d save $3.4 billion over the lifetime of the appliances.
IEEFA is now calling on the government to improve these outcomes with better policies and access for consumers to efficient electric appliances.
Scientists are calling for virgin plastic reduction targets
Has anyone noticed that the oil companies, seeing the end of fossil fuels draw nigh, are pivoting to plastics to keep their dirty business going. According to data released as the global plastic treaty in Ottawa got moving this week, we learned that 20,000 million metric tonnes of plastic will likely be produced by 2040. And recycling can’t keep pace with this.
There’s that and scientist have taken the opportunity to call on the treaty to take a strong stand against plastic production and pollution.
The Scientists Coalition took aim at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution and said the current talks were going in the wrong direction. The draft agreement was too complex, it was not transparent enough and there were knowledge gaps, they said.
A paper produced by Cambridge Prisms, said that only a reduction in the production of virgin plastic will deliver a substantial cut in plastic pollution and that a 1 to 3 per cent reduction per year will still see pollution continue its upward trend.
Tritium enters liquidation
We all had high hopes for the Australian high speed EV charging equipment company Tritium a few years ago when it became valued at $2 billion at the peak of the market.
The firm entered administration under accounting firm KPMG, and Australian restructuring firm McGrathNicol said in a letter to creditors that it would seek buyers for the business. Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox believes its demise was caused by rising east coast gas prices, which threatened a range of domestic manufacturing across the country, which if true would be an irony seeing the company hoped to rid us of fossil fuels.
Willox told the AFR that a lack of political will to exploit gas to service local markets meant greater reliance on imported gas.
US based Canary Media said the final straw was when the company failed to secure a $90 million investment from the Queensland government to keep its Australia factory open.
Housing
City West Housing is growing beyond the City of Sydney and set to develop more affordable build-to-rent housing in Rockdale, 17 kilometres south of Sydney.
The new Tallowwood Apartments will be on Princes Highway and provide 80 rental homes for low-to-moderate income households and is due for completion in 2026.
The developers said that residents will pay no more than 30 per cent of their household income for rent, which will be capped at 74.9 per cent of market rent. A ground breaking ceremony was held earlier this month, attended by builders Versatile Construction, Bayside deputy mayor Joe Awada, and NSW Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson.
New major stakeholder of GRESB announced
April 18: Sustainability benchmark organisation GRESB has announced that global equity firm General Atlantic will now become a majority shareholder after acquiring its stake from existing shareholder Summit Partners.
While the latter will continue to retain a minority position, the new investor will support the next phase of GRESB’s growth and expansion into transition finance, fixed income, REAL Solutions family of services and other and product innovation.
The equity firm announced that the investment has been made through its BeyondNetZero climate growth fund, GRESB will remain an independent benefit corporation and the not-for-profit GRESB Foundation will continue its ongoing work in driving growth and impact.
EVOS launches energy management platform for businesses
Brisbane-based EV charging company EVOS has launched its new Fleet platform – a “one-stop shop” that gives customers access to the installation and management of EV infrastructure.
This means business owners can now manage energy output for onsite charging digitally without needing to upgrade their electrical infrastructure, lowering the cost in the shift to EV while also keeping it simple for staff.
The AC charging hardware will allow EVO’s current Fleet 22 Home AC Charger, the SB7, and any future chargers to be released to be connected to the platform – allowing property manager to access real-time, intelligent energy data, inform energy decisions and reduce the cost of power in both infrastructure and electricity.
The platform also simplifies the process for businesses that need to report on the cost of EVs, charger utilisations, and carbon savings. EVOS chief executive Marcelo Salgado said that upgrading the electrical capacity of any building can be expensive and time-consuming, and the new Fleet solution can help businesses avoid costly upgrades to their building or site.
Will the EU listen now to align its targets to 1.5 degrees warming after Switzerland found to be violating human rights on climate?
In what’s understood to be a world first a group of more than 2000 Swiss women last week won a case against their own government in the European Court of Human Rights court in Strasbourg, France, for failing to protect them from climate change.
The majority of the women, aged over 70, were vindicated by the courts, which found that Switzerland violated some of the women’s human rights due to “critical gaps” in its national legislation to reduce planet-heating emissions, as well as a failure to meet past climate targets.
Aoife Daly, Professor of Law, University College Cork said: “I have been researching human rights for over 20 years and this is one of the biggest wins for rights on the defining issue of our times – the climate crisis.”
There is no right of appeal. The judgment is also legally binding.
Gerry Liston, a Global Legal Action Network lawyer, said the ruling would set historic precedents for all European countries – meaning the EU will now scramble to revise their targets to be aligned to 1.5 degrees.
Social enterprise in Northern NSW with jobs for 60 people
Luke Terry’s White Box Enterprises has opened its latest social enterprise, Beacon Laundry in the New South Wales’ Northern Rivers region.
The business is expected to provide jobs for about 60 people who have been shut out from mainstream employment because of their life experiences or background and those hit hard by droughts, bushfires, and devastating floods in the area.
Terry said the laundry service is designed to support local hotels, models, and accommodation providers while providing extra employee support. “Every community needs a Beacon Laundry,” he said.
Contributors to the funding of the business include JB Hifi, the Richard and Lorena Uechtritz Foundation, and Assistant Minister for Social Services Justine Elliot on behalf of the federal government. The Bryan Family Foundation has also made philanthropic donations.
This could be the world’s first smart community storage solution and it’s in Australia
Technology company X2M Connect has partnered with Taiwanese renewable energy provider GreenRock, funded by Cathay Financial Holdings – the largest financial institution in Taiwan to produce Australia’s, if not the world’s first of its type – a battery storage system said to accelerate the transition to net zero by 2050 through large-scale renewable energy generation, storage, and AI applications.
X2M had recently contributed a number of data and artificial intelligence automation and processing for Taiwan – recently seen in action during the Taiwan earthquake, where a smart gas monitoring control system had shut down gas supply to homes within seconds to prevent further disaster.
New study confirms Forest Stewardship Council certifications help wildlife thrive
A new study claims that FSC-certified forest management has helped many larger mammals thrive in the Congo Basin.
The study says that forests in Gabon and the Republic of Congo harbour an abundance of larger mammals, such as gorillas and elephants, as well as a number of critically endangered species, compared to the average non-FSC-certified forest. The research was funded by the WWF, the Wildlife Conservation Society and led by Utrecht University, which published the findings in the Nature journal last week.
FSC attributes biodiversity loss in other forests to hunting. The body is said to have taken proactive measures in blocking old logging roads, establishing checkpoints, and supporting alternative protein sources for local populations to curb illegal hunting.
The body also revealed that conserving large mammals positively influences seed dispersal, nutrient cycling, and forest carbon storage, proving previously published research that tropical forests would store 7 per cent less carbon without elephant presence.
Pollination snares top team from Minter Ellison
11 April 2024: Martijn Wilder’s aggressive talent acquisition campaign that’s turning his minnow Pollination into an emerging Goliath, has snared another scalp – or several – for its climate and investment advisory work.
The latest bout has snared Sarah Barker “and her team” from Minter Ellision, the company said in its social media on Thursday.
Barker, who was global head of climate and sustainability risk governance had been at Minters for more than 20 years and takes with her a team including Phoebe Roberts, Tatum Joseph and Lucy Sanderson.
It’s good news for the company built in just a few years since 2019; last we looked it was at more than 300 staff. And of course, the growth has come at the expense (and a lot of pain, we’ve heard) from other big consultancies in the top tier brackets. Now they’ll be joined in commiseration by one of the legal giants.
You have to ask, who and what’s next?
- See other stories on Pollination in The Fifth Estate here.
- Download the masterclass on sustainability The Shifting Sands of ESG headlined by Pollination managing director Zoe Whitton. Free for TFE members – join here from just $20 a month.
Chemicals on the rise
Among the headlines last year was 3M, the producers of Scotch tape and Post-it notes, forced to pay 10.3 billion in settlement after thousands submitted lawsuits accusing the company of contaminating US cities and town water with “forever chemicals”.
According to the Washington Post, plaintiffs claimed that the company knew of PFAS chemicals being in its products and knew that it would cause cancer, low fertility, birth defects and other health problems. The company did not admit liability but committed to investing the settlement money into cleaning up water supplies over the next 13 years.
But now in the headlines in Australia are superbugs – additives responsible for antimicrobial resistance, and new research by Monash University found that the chemical was common in one in three antibacterial products.
Antimicrobial resistance is when bacteria become immune to antibiotics or stop responding to antibacterials.
This meant consumers of hand sanitisers, eye drops, throat lozenges, mouthwash, soaps, handwash, disinfectants, toilet cleaners, wet wipes, and laundry sanitiser could be building antimicrobial resistance through continued use.
Senior researcher Dr Francesca Short told the Herald that what doesn’t kill the bacteria would make it stronger due to its ability to adapt, which could make bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
Researchers are now calling for the pharmaceutical watchdog, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, to start regulating products that have the potential to create superbugs.
In 2020, drug resistant bacterial infections had killed 1031 Australians.
Graphene concrete going strong:
Graphene Limited, the company behind graphene enhanced cement PureGRAPH, has announced that its material, which was used in a major UK highway infrastructure project as an enhanced concrete slab, is still performing well – having hit the 200 day mark.
The company said that the concrete slab, based in Southeast England, has maintained its strength and integrity despite aggressive and heavy vehicle traffic, abrasion, exposure to water, and various weather conditions. Reports from scientists and engineers found the project completely free of defects, damage, or deterioration.
This meant that graphene could be used to reduce emissions while producing a new, higher performing solution for the cement and concrete industry. The company will now determine the next steps forward at a project consortium.
NABERS UK appoints scheme administrator
Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has been appointed scheme administrator of NABERS in the UK, after its role to support the scheme as a founding member of the NABERS UK Steering Committee.
The role was previously administered by the Building Research Establishment, which will remain on board to ensure a smooth transition between administrators.
NABERS director Carlos Flores said that CIBSE had a history of leadership in building sustainability decarbonisation and a track record in certification and developing technical standards, and the new appointment will allow the UK to become a world leader in tackling climate crisis.
Hailo’s soft launch leading up to its trial
Hailo – a startup mobile application dedicated to increasing accessibility for people with disabilities and public transport uptake for the general consumer – was soft-launched across New South Wales last week.
The application alerts bus drivers when passengers need to be picked up and dropped off. It also communicates their accessibility requirements and allows users to access live updates from the bus during their trip.
The app is now available on the Sydney B-line in the Northern Beaches, and there are limited services in Tweed Head and Queanbeyan, with the official launch of the beta app due early next week
Infrastructure NSW
Infrastructure NSW has launched its Decarbonising Infrastructure Delivery policy paper and measurement guidance – the documents will guide government departments on the next steps in decarbonising infrastructure.
The advice will apply to all NSW government infrastructure delivery agencies and calls for quantification of upfront carbon in three project stages – business case, planning approval and project completion.
Plug-in hybrid vehicles on the rise
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries has released a new report stating figures for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) have more than doubled between March 2023 and 2024.
The National Automotive Leasing and Salary Packaging Association (NALSPA) claimed that the rising demand was due to consumers’ desire to save on vehicle running costs, the availability of models, and the EV fringe benefit tax exemption.
Studies also showed that PHEV SUV sales represent 23 per cent of all-electric vehicle sales in Australia.
NALSPA CEO Rohan Martin said that the cost of living crisis had led consumers to find PHEV models that suit their lifestyle and work needs through novated leasing. Martin hopes this would become the first step for consumers to transition to fully electric vehicles.
NALSPA’s Top 5 Novated Lease PHEVs (Q2 2022 to Q4 2023) include:
- Mitsubishi Outlander
- MG HS
- Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
- Mazda CX-60
- Cupra Formentor
Casella Family Brands unveils solar farm
Casella Family Brands (known for its wine brand Yellow Tail) has switched on a solar facility that it says – at 11.53 GWh of clean electricity per year – is the biggest in the beverage industry, claiming this knocks off Treasury Wines for the title. The facility is on an 11 hectare property at Yenda near Griffith, 572 kilometres west of Sydney.
The solar facility is on land deemed unsuitable for agricultural purposes after a biodiversity and Aboriginal heritage assessment.
The solar plant will save 7800 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions that could be generated by 1900 Australian homes and is equivalent to planting 325,000 trees, the company said.
The solar farm will provide approximately 35 per cent of the Yenda site’s electricity.
A second solar system will power a wastewater treatment plant with 890.47 MWh of electricity per year, about 30 per cent of total needs, sourced from 936 panels that have a 20-degree fixed tilt mounting selected for maximum generation.
The company’s plans are to reduce emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, and net zero by 2050
The brand’s sustainability manager, Sarah Broude, also said that the brand was inspired by sustainability becoming an increasingly high priority for consumers.
Both solar facilities were developed and constructed by Australia’s leading engineering, procurement, and construction company Next Generation Electrical.
BioPak acquires Huskee
Sustainable packaging company BioPak has acquired Australian reusable cup company Huskee.
The deal will allow both organisations to achieve their shared goal of a circular economy and a world without waste. The acquisition will allow Huskee to continue to operate with the same team and branding but now with expanded resources to fast-track and release new products.
BioPak chief executive Gary Smith said the acquisition will allow the packaging company to expand its reach into the market for reusable products and the company will learn a lot from Huskee’s cup exchange program and end-of-life recycling program.
Battery storage installations on the rise
Solar and storage market analysts SunWiz has released a new report claiming record numbers of battery systems installed in Australian homes in 2023.
The 2024 annual battery market report recorded 57,000 battery or energy storage systems installed in Australian homes last year – a 21 per cent growth in installation levels compared to the previous year. A record-setting 656 megawatt hour (MWh) of residential battery capacity was also recorded to come online last year.
Businesses reported record breaking installations of 402 MWh that together with grid-scale projects (or big batteries) totalled 1410 MWh of capacity installed.
At the rate of 20 kilowatt per hour per day for the average home installed batteries in 2023 were enough to meet the energy needs of 125,000 homes.