Policy
Our Transport Portfolio’s vision is for “a better future for Western Australians through connected, resilient, safe and sustainable transport solutions”.
The Transport Portfolio Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Framework will help to shape and guide the strategic direction and achievement of our key objectives, particularly for a Sustainable Transport System to: “deliver sustainable, integrated, accessible and safe transport solutions to meet current and future needs”.
Eleven material topics were identified in the ESG Framework including energy and emissions reduction and sustainable material use which is the focus of the Transport Portfolio Sustainable Infrastructure Policy and Guidance.
Transport Portfolio Sustainable Infrastructure Policy
Policy statement
The Sustainable Infrastructure Policy commits the Transport Portfolio to strengthen sustainable resource use and decarbonisation of life cycle impacts from energy, water and materials across transport infrastructure and assets.
Principles
The implementation of this Policy will:
- Demonstrate alignment with National and State Climate Policy and targets through carbon management plans, actions, initiatives and funding decisions.
- Adopt the carbon hierarchy using the “avoid, switch and improve” model and undertake carbon valuation, materiality and life cycle assessment (LCA) for energy, materials and water across the asset life stages. Refer to Appendix B Carbon Hierarchy and Life Cycle Assessment Guidance.
- Apply whole of life costing to improve carbon and circular economy outcomes, establishing budget and demand profiles for low/zero carbon, recycled and reuse options.
- Drive outcomes using sustainability rating tools for projects based on materiality of impacts to improve and drive outcomes from planning, design, construction and as-built phases.
- Integrate sustainability requirements into investment and procurement practices with reference to Appendix A Sustainable Procurement and Contracts Guidance.
Objectives
The aim of this Policy is to:
- Achieve a consistent approach to sustainable material use and decarbonisation of life cycle impacts for energy, materials and water across the Transport Portfolio infrastructure and assets.
- Overcome barriers to greater uptake of sustainable materials and low/zero carbon products across four key areas: cultural (willingness to adopt new products); technical (risk and asset life impacts), local market supply (availability, cost) and regulatory (specifications, compliance).
- Increase the use of low/zero carbon, reused and recycled products for priority materials including steel, concrete, asphalt, aggregates, sand, and plastic.
- Explore transition of transport fleets and off-road machinery and equipment to low/zero emissions technology.
- Share knowledge, research and experience with industry partners to improve and drive outcomes.
Governance
This Policy is aligned with the environmental ‘material’ topics in the Transport Portfolio Environmental, Social Governance (ESG) Framework. The measurement and reporting of progress with this Policy will be based on sustainability data in Appendix C Sustainability Reporting Requirements, with oversight by the Transport Portfolio Executive Sustainability Forum.
Director General Transport Portfolio
Procurement and Contracts Guidance
This guidance is intended to steer how sustainability outcomes are integrated into procurement and contracts across the lifecycle stages from business case to end of life and reuse.
Carbon Hierarchy and Life Cycle Assessment Guidance
This guidance provides a high-level summary of application of the “avoid, switch, and improve model” in the carbon hierarchy, and the requirements for undertaking a life cycle assessment (LCA) for carbon, energy, materials and water on transport infrastructure investment.
Sustainability Reporting Requirements
The sustainability reporting requirements for the Transport Portfolio are summarised in this guidance and apply to all transport infrastructure design, construction and operation.