Some of Australia's largest air and sea ports have pledged to slash their greenhouse gas emissions in a move that should help line the pockets of super fund members.
Fund manager IFM Investors owns or co-owns major Australian infrastructure assets on behalf of seven million Australians who are members of industry superannuation funds.
On Monday, IFM announced what it called an unprecedented agreement that sets emissions reduction targets for each asset, and commits them to publicly report on their progress.
Collectively the agreement should slash emissions by 200,000 tonnes a year by 2030, which is the equivalent of taking 70,000 cars off the road.
Assets that have signed up include the Melbourne, Brisbane and Darwin airports, NSW Ports, the Port of Brisbane, NSW electricity distributor Ausgrid and Melbourne's Southern Cross railway station.
Individual assets have promised to cut emissions by between eight and 25 per cent by 2024, and 38 to 100 per cent by 2030.
They'll do it by moving to greener sources of power, shifting to electric and low emissions vehicles, and installing rooftop and large scale solar power systems.
Australian workers and retirees whose super funds have been invested in the assets should also win as operational costs fall.
Infrastructure-related emissions account for more than half of Australia's total carbon output, with power stations alone accounting for 50.3 per cent of emissions.
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation invested $150 million last year to help drive emissions cuts at some of Australia's largest infrastructure assets.
The corporation's chief executive Ian Learmonth said other major infrastructure owners and managers in Australia should follow suit.
"Cutting carbon emissions can deliver a long-term dividend to the environment and in most cases an improved financial performance," he said.
Australian Associated Press
