Sustainability at Port of Melbourne

Port of Melbourne’s focus on sustainability is core to our purpose and strategy, and critical to our future success. Sustainability underpins the delivery of our strategic goals and is integrated into our corporate strategy as a key business priority.

PoM’s Sustainability Strategy establishes a foundation for our sustainability program, articulating what sustainability means in the context of PoM’s business and responds to those issues most material to our stakeholders. The strategy guides us in identifying, understanding and responding to social and environmental issues in support of PoM’s purpose.

PoM’s overarching sustainability goal is to work with our stakeholders to build a sustainable port for the benefit of the Victorian economy and liveability of Melbourne.

This goal is underpinned by three key objectives, supported by four sustainability themes: people, planet, partnerships and prosperity. Our strategy’s objectives, themes and sustainability focus areas are shown in the figure below.

Our strategy is also aligned to those United Nations Sustainability Development Goals most relevant to PoM and our stakeholders, and is supported by objectives, three-year targets and indicators.

A key focus for PoM in delivering the strategy is to embed sustainability into all aspects of our business, including infrastructure operations and maintenance and port development planning and delivery.

Sustainability Report

PoM reports its sustainability progress annually.

Read our latest 2024 Sustainability Report here.

Past reports:

Action on climate change

PoM recognises that climate change is a significant global challenge that will have wide-reaching effects on our business, all sectors of the economy and society. We support the Paris Agreement goals and efforts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century. We also support the State of Victoria and Australia’s transition to net zero emissions.

Our target

PoM has set a target to achieve net zero emissions for Scope 1 and 2 by 2030.

We plan to achieve this by:

Sourcing 100% of the electricity needed for our business operations from renewables; and
Transitioning our corporate vehicle fleet and our marine survey vessel to electric or zero-emissions fuel technologies.

PoM is committed to managing the risks and opportunities arising from climate change to ensure the long-term sustainability of the port and the ongoing resilience of our assets.

We align our approach to climate management and reporting to the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and report our progress in our annual Sustainability Report.

PoM’s Climate Change Statement outlines our approach to climate management.

Feasibility Study on Low Carbon Methanol Bunkering

In March 2023, Port of Melbourne signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with industry partners Maersk, ANL (part of the CMA CGM Group), Svitzer, Stolthaven Terminals, HAMR Energy and ABEL Energy to explore the commercial feasibility of establishing a Low Carbon Methanol (LCM) bunkering hub at the Port of Melbourne.

LCM is a renewable, lower Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions alternative to traditional marine fuel, when produced using sustainable and renewable sources, which addresses the maritime industry’s need to reduce both GHG and pollutant emissions, and to comply with increasingly stringent climate regulations.

The feasibility study found that, while the port has the necessary infrastructure to receive and store methanol, there are present-day barriers and emerging future scenarios across the wider LCM supply chain that need to develop to support long-term commercially viability of LCM bunkering in Melbourne.

The feasibility study is intended to support further engagement between industry and government to better understand these barriers and how they may be addressed in the long term

For more information, click here to view a summary of the study.

Sustainability recognition

In 2024, PoM’s ongoing sustainability efforts were once again recognised by the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB). PoM achieved a 5 Star rating in the GRESB Infrastructure Asset Assessment and scored the maximum possible 100 points, ranking first among Australian and global ports.