Sustainability Report 2006/07Our sustainability approach
Sustainable Water – A Strategic Framework formalises Melbourne Water’s commitment to sustainability and outlines our sustainability principles.
It also links our work to Victorian Government strategies and policies including Our Water Our Future, Our Environment Our Future, the Central Region Sustainable Water Strategy and Melbourne 2030 Metropolitan Strategy.
The framework provides the context for Melbourne Water’s planning process, ensuring that economic, environmental and social impacts are considered.
The framework was developed by Melbourne Water’s Board and senior management team with input from our people, and in consultation with government, water industry and community stakeholders.
Our sustainability principles
Melbourne Water’s commitment to sustainability will be demonstrated by:
- Protecting and conserving Melbourne’s water resources
- Protecting and improving the environment, including biodiversity
- Our leadership, scientific research, creativity and innovation
- Ensuring responsible risk management
- Sharing information and fostering collaborative working relationships
- Maintaining long-term financial viability
- Contributing to the health of the community
- Demonstrating corporate social responsibility
- Ensuring intergenerational equity by considering short-term and long-term implications in all decision making
- Providing an environment where employees are encouraged to achieve their potential.
Statement of Obligations
Our Statement of Obligations to the Minister for Water now contains sustainability management principles that mirror those in the Water (Governance) Act 2006, which was proclaimed on 1 July 2007.
These principles are:
- The need to ensure that water resources are conserved and properly managed for sustainable use and for the benefit of present and future generations
- The need to encourage and facilitate community involvement in the making and implementation of arrangements relating to the use, conservation and management of water resources
- The need to integrate both long-term and short-term economic, environmental, social and equitable considerations
- The need for the conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity to be a fundamental consideration
- If there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty as to measures to address the threat should not be used as a reason for postponing such measures.
The Statement of Obligations also requires Melbourne Water to develop and implement programs for assessing, monitoring and continuously improving our sustainability performance, including:
- Responding to climate change
- Maintaining and restoring natural assets
- Using resources more efficiently
- Managing everyday environmental impacts.
Melbourne Water has developed initiatives in each of these key areas and included these in our 2008/09 – 2010/11 Corporate Plan and Draft 2008 Water Plan.
How we rate
Melbourne Water’s sustainability performance was benchmarked against publicly listed companies considered to be world leaders in sustainability. On the 2006/07 Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes of financial, environmental and social criteria, Melbourne Water increased its score from the previous year from 69% to 71%, placing us 3% behind the leading company.
On the Australian Sustainable Asset Management Sustainability Index for 2006/07, Melbourne Water increased its score from 69% in 2005/06 to 71% in 2006/07, placing us 5% behind the leading company. These benchmarking assessments were the most recent as of 30 June 2008.
Office-based sustainability
Melbourne Water established several Key Performance Indicators to measure our office sustainability performance. These began in 2007/08, when we met our KPI for paper use but we didn’t achieve our targets in other areas including water use, despite effective systems being in place (see Our people, our workplace, page 60).
The paper consumption target was included in our employees’ Enterprise Agreement. Water, energy and waste will be in the Enterprise Agreement from 2008/09 and our performance in meeting these targets will be considered when determining salary increases.
