Local Government Super achieves carbon neutral certification

Local Government Super (LGS) has achieved Australia’s first carbon neutral property portfolio certification by the Australian Government for all National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) rated buildings in its direct property portfolio.

It was Australia’s first NABERS rated property portfolio to achieve the certification against the National Carbon Offset Standard for Buildings (the Standard).

The NABERS rated buildings in the LGS direct property portfolio include four commercial offices in Sydney’s CBD, North Sydney and Macquarie Park, as well as two sub-regional shopping centres in Leichhardt and Bateman’s Bay.

The carbon neutral outcomes had been certified by the NSW Government NABERS program, under licence from the Australia Government Department of the Environment and Energy.

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To meet requirements, LGS purchased dual credit offset units that combined biodiversity outcomes in Australia with international emissions reduction. The domestic offsets were supplied by Greenfleet, which would result in over 5,000 native trees being planted in Eastern Australia.

The international emissions reductions would be delivered through investment in wind power in India.

Scott Armstrong, LGS head of property, said the achievement reflected their ongoing commitment to industry leadership in sustainable and responsible investing in Australia and globally.

“LGS strives to continually improve the environmental performance of our direct property assets by incorporating environmental practices and social considerations into the day-to-day management of our direct property portfolio,” Armstrong said.

“In doing so, we aim to enhance the overall retirement outcomes for our members.”

This year, LGS had achieved an average NABERS Energy rating of 5.1 stars (6 with the purchase of Greenpower) and an average NABERS Water rating of 3.7 stars.