Lendlease to hit zero carbon by 2040 as the developer ramps up renewables

The developer is the vanguard of property groups seeking to address climate and social issues as world leaders meet in Glasgow.

Lendlease’s Daramu House at Barangaroo uses GRP sustainable timber.

Development heavyweight Lendlease has put its environmental credentials on display saying it has already made big inroads into cutting emissions and will hit absolute zero carbon ten years ahead of global net-zero commitments in 2050.

Big property and development companies are pouring billions into making their operations more environmentally friendly at the behest of big investors and customers who are aiming to lower their own carbon footprints.

With global leaders meeting to negotiate a lower carbon future at COP26, Lendlease has reported the company’s progress against its environmental commitments during fiscal 2021, including on its strict carbon reduction targets.

Initiatives including veggie-powered construction equipment, rubbish-digesting maggots and plant-loving solar PV panels were used by Lendlease as it tries out technologies.

Lendlease group head of sustainability Cate Harris told investors at the company’s annual sustainability update that the company had made significant inroads towards achieving its net zero carbon target by 2025 – and absolute zero carbon by 2040 – as well generating $250m in social value by 2025.

The briefing comes in the wake of Lendlease funds and assets under management being named among some of the most sustainable in the world, with GRESB – the global sustainability benchmark for real estate assets – placing four of 17 Lendlease funds in the global top 10.

Lendlease group head of sustainability Cate Harris.

Ms Harris said the company had offset 23 per cent of our Scope 1 & 2 emissions, “meaning we’re well on our way to offsetting 100 per cent of our residual carbon emissions to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2025”.

“We also made significant progress on our target of being powered by 100 per cent renewables by 2030. In fiscal 2021, 33 per cent of our electricity use was drawn from renewables and our Europe business is now powered entirely by renewables including every project, site and office,” she said.

“As part of our plan to phase out diesel and gas, we trialled the use of biofuels including hydrotreated vegetable oil in the UK and biodiesel in Australia to power onsite equipment including cranes, generators, boom lifts and excavators.

“We are working closely with our supply chain partners to start the engagement necessary to set pathways to achieve absolute zero carbon by 2040. This has included becoming one of the first companies globally to join SteelZero as well as becoming a founding member of MECLA, the Materials and Embodied Carbon Leaders Alliance in Australia,” Ms Harris said.

Lendlease evaluated $47.2m in social value from a number of shared value partnerships during the current financial year, which represents 18.9 per cent of its 2025 target.

Social value initiatives included a mental health and suicide prevention program for unions and contractors on its construction projects in the US; a women in entrepreneurship program in Kuala Lumpur; restoration and conservation activities on three islands in The Great Barrier Reef.

It also undertook a job placement program in Italy to enhance social inclusion for offenders in the Milan prison system.