Ingenia Communities Group today announced the Group has secured a $75 million debt facility from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), which will assist the Group as it increases its focus on carbon reduction and energy initiatives.
Ingenia Communities Group CEO, Simon Owen, said he was pleased to announce the $75 million, 7-year facility, which diversifies the Group’s funding sources and extends the tenure of the Group’s debt.
“The CEFC facility will assist us in funding our energy and carbon reduction program as we target a 30% reduction in our carbon emissions over the next five years and a carbon neutral operation by 2035.
“Our focus on innovating and creating leading communities extends to our objective of creating sustainable environments for our residents and guests. Reducing our emissions not only improves environmental outcomes but will generate savings for the business and, importantly, reduce ongoing costs for our residents,” Mr Owen said.
The CEFC investment is on behalf of the Australian Government to help reduce emissions across the economy.
CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth said: “Buildings account for more than half of our national electricity use and almost a quarter of emissions across the Australian economy. If we can reduce energy use from the residential property sector and curb its emissions, we will make significant advances in our decarbonisation efforts, as well as produce more sustainable housing.
“Cleaner, greener homes produce fewer emissions, and they cost less to heat and cool. This investment extends the economic benefits of clean energy technologies to residents of affordable housing through lower energy bills.”
The Group already has a range of initiatives in place and has been working to establish appropriate measurement protocols and targets for energy across its portfolio. Current initiatives include:
- A focus on improving the efficiency of existing assets through the addition of solar on homes and community buildings; the use of LED lighting; replacing low-efficiency water systems and air conditioners with modern efficient models.
- Participating in the Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star Homes standard pilot to provide healthy, resilient and energy efficient homes for our residents, with the first home under the pilot anticipated to be built at Ingenia Lifestyle Plantations this year. Australians pay amongst the highest energy bills in the world – reducing these costs can make a significant difference to the lifestyle of our residents.
- Obtaining a Green Star – Communities rating for one of the Group’s new greenfield projects – the Group has now registered its first project under the Communities rating tool which evaluates the attributes of the planning, design, and construction of a community.
“We are actively progressing ways to innovate and create Australia’s leading communities and this finance will assist us to explore and implement additional programs aimed at reducing our carbon emissions and energy costs,” Mr Owen said.
Ingenia Communities published its first sustainability disclosures in July 2020, highlighting its focus on evolving environmental initiatives and targets over the next 12 months. Progress on the Group’s energy initiatives will be included in the Group’s next Sustainability Report.
Our Views
The adoption of solar and battery schemes to reduce users electricity is certainly worth exploring. CEFC supports viable schemes and Ingenia are right to advance this initiative.
Any user with large scale roof areas and tenants who are willing to change their electricity supplier to allow the landlord to recoup their investment.
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