Media statement: Boral, carbon emission targets and responsible, compliant ESG disclosures
Monday 23rd October 2023
As a listed company, Boral is bound to be transparent in our ESG disclosures to the market and we complied with this requirement in our full year results where we confirmed we were revising our intermediate FY25 targets to a 12-14% reduction in our absolute Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions against 2019 to reflect what is achievable given regulatory and project delivery delays. Boral and its Board cannot issue a forward-looking statement that it knows to be untrue or unachievable.
Boral remains unequivocally committed to the ambition of net zero by 2050 which we have stated routinely and publicly, as recently as at our attendance at the AFR Energy and Climate Summit earlier this month. Our net zero ambition remains, but what we have said is that our glide-path to get there will change. We have stated to market that we will transition to intensity-based targets for FY30 and beyond. This approach is in alignment with SBTi Sectoral Decarbonisation Approach for the cement industry and provides the appropriate base starting point for setting our FY30 targets aligned with our obligations under the Safeguard Mechanism. We committed to confirming these new targets in the current financial year.
The Board will carefully review targets before they are set as well ensuring there is a sound, achievable basis for our targets. We will continue to be transparent in our ESG disclosures and comply with ASX reporting requirements.
Boral does not shrink from its responsibility to address climate change and we continue to build out demand for our suite of lower embodied carbon products, such as ENVISIA concrete. We’re on record as having secured a major Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) which will begin delivering renewable electricity in FY25, and we are keen to add further renewable purchases. In addition, we advocate for policies that will assist global decarbonisation, such as a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and we do this from an informed position as both a domestic manufacturer and importer of clinker. We believe the success of the Safeguard Mechanism can only be fully realised when coupled with a CBAM to stop leakage of carbon emissions from jurisdictions with lesser restrictions, to jurisdictions trying to do the right thing.
We welcome the Government’s decision to commence detailed policy analysis on implementing a CBAM and we continue to advocate for the potential of recarbonation, which is a process where carbon dioxide is absorbed by the concrete used in buildings and infrastructure through their service life and end of life phases. The process has been acknowledged and confirmed by the Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and we think it is important that it is recognised here in Australia.
We will continue to focus on participating in the discussion around real-world actions, decisions and measures which drive heavy industry forward on the decarbonisation path rather than subjective third-party views on our level of influence.