Sydney Airport is one of Australia’s most important pieces of infrastructure. It is our international gateway and an essential part of Australia’s transport network, connecting to more than 90 destinations around the world.

Our Sustainability Policy sets out our commitment to sustainability and our latest Sustainability Report provides a window into our strategic objectives, initiatives and performance for the year.

Contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seek to address the most significant challenges our world is facing today. We have mapped the SDG framework against our sustainability strategy to show how we are contributing to the achievement of the SDGs. Details on our contribution this year is available here.

Sustainability strategy

Our sustainability strategy responds to a changing world, and to the challenges and opportunities that shape business in Australia and globally. We believe that by focussing on sustainable growth, we will deliver long-term value for our stakeholders.

The strategy forms an integral part of our broader business strategy and supports the delivery of our purpose: to make Sydney proud every day.

Our Sustainability Strategy has three pillars underpinned by 2021-2024 focus areas and strategic outcomes aligned with SYD’s values:

To read about our performance in progressing our sustainability strategy, see our annual sustainability reporting.

Sustainability governance framework

The Board’s Safety, Security and Sustainability (SSS) Committee is responsible for overseeing and reviewing the effectiveness of Sydney Airport’s policies, strategies, initiatives and systems in relation to sustainability performance and reporting. Throughout the year, the SSS Committee met six times to assist the Board in overseeing sustainability performance and reporting.

The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Steering Committee (SteerCo) has been established by Management to oversee and provide direction to the business on our Sustainability Strategy and targets. Various cross-functional working groups across the business support the ESG SteerCo, which guide and deliver the various work streams and initiatives that underpin the achievement of our Sustainability Strategy and targets. Sydney Airport has four levels of ESG governance.

Sustainability Linked Loan

Sydney Airport’s innovative Sustainability Linked Loan (SLL) determines if the company’s bank debt facility margins will decrease or increase depending on our sustainability performance over time.

Sydney Airport’s SLL represents the first syndicated SLL in Australia, largest syndicated SLL across the Asia Pacific and largest syndicated airport SLL globally. In Sustainalytics opinion, the loan aligns with the Loan Markets Association’s Sustainability Linked Loan Principles.

Read more about the transaction here.

Carbon neutrality update

Sydney Airport has been working to achieve carbon neutral certification by 2025 since 2018, and we have come a long way towards achieving that goal. Key initiatives include a Power Purchase Agreement for 100 per cent renewable electricity, implementing an energy efficiency program, and developing a carbon offset procurement strategy which identified the use of offsets for any residual emissions.

It has now become clear that to achieve carbon neutral certification in 2025, SYD would need to purchase carbon offsets from overseas or outside our local community, as there are currently no carbon projects available locally. We believe our investment in carbon removal should primarily benefit our surrounding communities. SYD has decided to instead allocate funds to local environmental projects. While this decision means we will not achieve carbon neutral certification by 2025, we are committed to investing in improving the environment surrounding the airport.

We remain committed to achieving Net Zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030. We are working hard to reduce our emissions and we are investigating opportunities to offset any remaining emissions by removing carbon in our local area – for example, we are looking to establish a first of its kind blue carbon removal project in Sydney Harbour to restore seagrass habitat.

We will provide regular updates on our progress towards our Net Zero 2030 target and any related carbon removal projects.