Sustainable Infrastructure Program
The Sustainable Infrastructure Program is a four-year program created to streamline and drive decarbonisation and circularity on transport infrastructure projects.
It has a strong focus on the earliest stages of the project lifecycle to tackle carbon long before construction delivery and is integrated with the broader 2026 Decarbonising Infrastructure Delivery Roadmap.
How are we driving change?
Aligning with Transport’s Net Zero and Climate Change Policy, the Program is a pathway for Transport and industry to collectively deliver on infrastructure-related net zero targets and transition to a circular asset model.
The objective of the program is to streamline and simplify decarbonisation and circular economy for our project teams and industry partners through:
embracing digitisation to update systems and processes to capture carbon reduction measures
clear and consistent approach to carbon management to deliver carbon reduction targets
Informing decision making by linking circular economy outcomes and decarbonisation
Importantly the Program is very closely aligned to our ongoing partnership with Infrastructure NSW (INSW) and Infrastructure Australia, and with groups such as the Construction Leadership Group and the Infrastructure and Transport Senior Officials Committee to make sure we are aligned on how we achieve net zero and decarbonisation across the country.
Our journey to develop the Sustainable Infrastructure Program
In early 2022 we launched the Sustainable Procurement in Infrastructure Initiative (SPII) to work with our industry partners to co-create solutions that accelerate decarbonisation and the growth of a circular economy for construction.
We spent 12 months engaging, listening and working with over 370 industry specialists representing 135 organisations to co-create practical ways to embed sustainability into projects.
This involved discussion papers, co-creation workshops led by industry leaders, webinar briefings and regularly asking for feedback. You can find the SPII materials, including the discussion paper and feedback reports, in the resources tab on this page.
To help ensure genuine co-creation through this program, industry leaders co-facilitated our workshops. Our workshops were facilitated by:
Hudson Worsley, Chair, Materials and Embodied Carbon Leaders Alliance
Jonathan Cartledge, CEO, Consult Australia
Ainsley Simpson, CEO, Infrastructure Sustainability Council
Dr Dak Baweja, Industry Fellow, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UTS, and Director – Specialist Businesses, BG&E
What was as equally as important was the parallel trialling of a suite of accelerated pilot projects with emission reduction targets and minimum requirements for circular economy.
This co-creation led to the development of the Sustainable Procurement Standard, an internal document that will guide how we practically consider, evaluate and apply net zero and circular economy principles during the procurement phases of projects.
We have also heard from industry the need for consistency and alignment jurisdictions. To help address this, we are currently responsible for leading the development of a national framework to decarbonising infrastructure as part of ITTM - Infrastructure Transport Ministers Meeting. Our teams also work very closely with Infrastructure NSW and Infrastructure Australia
SPII video interview series
To help wrap-up the Sustainable Procurement in Infrastructure Initiative, Pamela Henderson, Head of Technical Services, sat down with the four co-facilitators of our SPII workshops to talk about what Transport and industry need to do to reach our sustainability and decarbonisation goals.
Hudson Worsley, Chair, Materials and Embodied Carbon Leaders Alliance
Jonathan Cartledge, CEO, Consult Australia
Ainsley Simpson, CEO, Infrastructure Sustainability Council
Dr Dak Baweja, Industry Fellow, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UTS, and Director – Specialist Businesses, BG&E
Net Zero and Climate Change Policy
Transport is committed to transformative action on climate change to achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the 2016 Paris Agreement and the NSW Climate Change Policy Framework.
The Net Zero and Climate Change Policy clearly sets out the principles and requirements to support the sector’s transition to net zero while continuing to create a transport network that is resilient, responsible and optimally adapted to a changing climate.
The targets in the policy are:
100% renewable energy for all operational electricity for the rail, light rail and metro train network by 2025
50% of Transport's light passenger vehicle fleet transitioning to all-electric by 2026
100% of Transport’s light passenger vehicle fleet transitioning to all-electric by 2030
65% reduction in Transport’s operational emissions by 2030 (compared to 2018- 19)
Net Zero in Transport’s operational and fleet emissions by 2035
Fossil fuel-free Transport construction and maintenance by 2040
Net Zero in Transport's annual embodied emissions by 2045
Net Zero in transport sector emissions by 2050
Net negative transport sector emissions by 2060
Resources
The below resources include the latest from the Sustainable Infrastructure Program, as well as background documents that were released to industry as part of the Sustainable Procurement in Infrastructure Initiative.