ISCA impacts: Showcasing our industry's infrastructure sustainability achievements

The ISCA Impacts Report 2020 is a showcase of the infrastructure industry’s remarkable achievements in sustainability. The report documents lifecycle impacts, innovations, and our contribution towards a circular economy. There is also a collection of case studies and stories from some of the industry’s leading stakeholders, in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ).

Right across the infrastructure sector, from rail to wastewater treatment, sustainable outcomes are a measured reality across most infrastructure projects. Our impact is best demonstrated in the positive outcomes which infrastructure enables, made possible because sustainability is a priority and is being measured and managed against credible benchmarks for over $165 billion worth of infrastructure investment.

The infrastructure sector across ANZ continues to make great strides and collective progress. The combined improvements from all certified infrastructure to date demonstrates substantial life cycle improvements including 68 per cent reduction in energy use, 34 per cent reduction in water use and 11 per cent reduction in materials use against declared baselines. Avoided emissions total 56.3 megatonnes CO2e, with the equivalent value of $1.4 billion. This provides a sound foundation for prioritising a more consistent approach toward our net zero emissions future. Infrastructure enables approximately 70 per cent of Australia’s emissions, and will shape economic activity for decades to come. Now is the time for shared responsibility and sustainable action.

Significant culture change throughout industry continues with one indicator being the growing number of sustainability innovations recorded through the IS Scheme; 4 world firsts, 17 national firsts. The business case is also now clear; sustainability and profitability are intricately linked. The IS Rating Scheme Return on Investment study has found that infrastructure projects rated under the IS Rating Scheme will deliver up to $2.40 in benefit for every dollar spent. All infrastructure – urban and regional, large and small, new and ageing – can deliver more for our communities with up to NPV $90.7 million.

The 2020 ISCA Impacts Report shares industry’s great achievements this year, for the benefit of all community members both now and in the future. ISCA continues to transform to deliver on our purpose, ‘ensuring all infrastructure delivers social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits’. We are balancing the future and the past to create a new legacy. Our focus is on enabling an even more empowered infrastructure value chain that actively drives tangible positive change across the transport, utility and social infrastructure sectors. Our new strategy builds on ISCA being a trusted assurance partner, a reliable data and knowledge source and a collaborative advocate for a rapid transition with growing culture of sustainability in infrastructure.

This report features contributions from:
• Transport for NSW – Treading lightly: light rail drives sustainable outcomes
• Jacobs – From trash to treasure: Could systems thinking hold the key to commercialising sustainable hydrogen production?
• Major Transport Infrastructure Australia – Using Ecologiq to deliver Victoria’s Big Build
• ACCIONA – Recycled Clashed Glass in Concrete
• Main Roads Western Australia: Committed to delivering sustainable infrastructure
• John Holland: Creating a true circular economy
• GHD: Making sustainability governance real: using IS across the project lifecyle
• Holcim Australia: Humes provide certified neutral culverts in Australian-first for Inland Rail
• InfraBuild: Committed to Sustainability in Steelmaking
• Cirtex: Crude Oil & Quarried Rock – Optimising our road network resources
• Vital Chemical: Sustainable Haul Road Management Program
• Mott MacDonald: Helping Tamaki Makaurau Auckland become the world’s most liveable city
• thinkstep anz: Reducing emissions will need people power
• CPB Contractors: A collaborative approach to organisational leadership in sustainability

Download the full report here.