Goodman and Lendlease ‘uniquely placed’ to lead on sustainability

“We are sharing these learnings back into our Asian, Australian and the US businesses. We’re in a unique situation,” Mr Goodman said.

Echoing comments made by Lendlease global CEO Tony Lombardo at the AFR Property Summit earlier this month that developers not going green were “in trouble” Mr Goodman said investor capital targeting logistics was being channelled into sustainable projects.

“If you’re not being fundamentally honest in regard to what you are doing, and doing what you will say will you do [such as] putting in renewables so that buildings are carbon-neutral, you will be disadvantaged from capital point of view, and your buildings will become obsolete very quickly,” Mr Goodman said.

Despite the obvious financial benefits, Mr Goodman said the company viewed its push into sustainable development as its “social and moral obligation”.

“We don’t see it as a competitive advantage,” he said.

Alongside its investment partners, Goodman will spend $700 million over the next five years on sustainability initiatives including renewable energy and carbon reduction technologies.

It’s also focusing its development pipeline on redeveloping existing brownfield sites close to urban centres, rather than develop new greenfield sites.

One key initiative launched over the past financial year, was Goodman’s carbon-neutral development program, which measures carbon embodied in the concrete, steel, diesel and other materials used in the construction process across its projects to set a “baseline” of carbon per square metre,

“This provides a benchmark for us to work with our supply chain on low carbon and recycled materials. We’ll seek to offset what we’re not able to reduce,” Mr Goodman said.

He said the other big focus was on getting as much regenerative energy as possible feeding into customers that use its buildings.

”With more technology [like robotics] going into buildings, it makes that really important,” Mr Goodman said.

The company is also offering $10 million worth of electric vehicle (EV) incentives to its employees over the next five years. By 2025, all its company vehicles will be EVs.

“We’ve taken a bipartisan approach and have decided to be collaborative with the industry and with our investment partners. We’re bringing everyone along for the journey,” Mr Goodman said.