Australian Airports Join A$700m Renewable Energy Pact

(Bloomberg) -- Two airports and a major port in Australia have signed up to a A$700 million ($467 million) renewable energy pact, the country’s largest such program covering multiple states and sectors.

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The power purchasing deal covers Sydney and Adelaide airports, the port of Melbourne, oil and gas company Lochard Energy Group Plc, and a network of medical and health facilities across the country.

Clean energy firms Iberdrola SA and Squadron Wind Energy Development Pty are set to join others in supplying 500 gigawatt hours of power a year under agreements ranging from seven to nine years.

IFM Investors Pty and QIC Ltd., two of Australia’s largest infrastructure funds, helped broker the deal, which is in its final stage, as investors race to cut emissions across their portfolios. The government has proposed new laws to be phased in from next year that will require large businesses and financial institutions to disclose information such as greenhouse gas emissions and reduction targets.

“Importantly, it provides a blueprint to help more infrastructure assets switch to renewable energy and accelerate the sector’s emission reduction efforts,” Michael Hanna, head of infrastructure at IFM Investors, said in a statement sent to Bloomberg.

IFM has an interim 2030 emissions reduction target of 1.16 million tons of CO2 from 2019 levels across its infrastructure portfolio. QIC has committed to a net zero target by 2040 for Scope 1 and 2 for two of its infrastructure funds, a spokesperson said.

The program, which also involves Origin Energy Ltd. and Stanwell Corp., is expected to save about 260,000 tonnes of CO2 each year by 2025, IFM and QIC said in the statement.

(Corrects line relating to QIC’s net zero target in 6th paragraph.)

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