Vehicle and emission-based initiatives

By focusing on targeted initiatives, we are contributing to the decarbonisation of transport related emissions.

Environmental management and sustainability form a core part of our Zero Harm philosophy.

We have set ambitious targets for emissions reductions, signed the Climate Leaders Coalition (Downer is the only large infrastructure services company to do so), and committed to managing the impacts of our work through our sustainability governance groupin compliance with the ISO 14001-certified environmental management system that is fully embedded across all our systems and processes.

We minimise the environmental impact of our by:

• Reducing vehicles emissions through an ongoing programme to replace older vehicles with electrical vehicles and lighter fuel-efficient plant.
• Using EROAD fleet management solution. Since 2016, this helped us minimise travel distances and vehicle idle item to optimise fuel usage and decrease emissions. We also track driver behaviour, such as heavy acceleration and braking to identify inefficient driving practices. The scheme positively benefits communities through reduced emissions, better air quality and better safety.
• Switching to 100% emulsion for chip seal surfacing. Emulsion emits 50% less carbon than hot cut back bitumen, contributing to a significant reduction.
• Minimising waste to landfill by using recycled materials in asphalt production and converting off-specification emulsion to bitumen.

Minimising the environmental impact of our asphalt & pavement production

Under our energy management plan, we monitor our asphalt and Road Science (bitumen and emulsion) plant and production efficiencies, against annual improvement target. Collectively, these initiatives resulted in an energy saving of 49TJ, representing a 7.3% energy and 3.4 Kt GHG reduction.

Optimising our fleet of vehicles

Energy-efficient light vehicles

We started to introduce electric vehicles (EV) since 2015 - as inspection units for urban road maintenance contracts in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington. In their first six months, EVs saved over three tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – equal to the carbon sequestered by three acres of forest in a year. Where EVs are not appropriate, Downer has hybrid petrol electric vehicles (Mitsubishi Outlander Hybrid SUV or similar) available. These vehicles have an electric motor for city driving and a petrol combustion engine to give it range.

We have recently introduced new, state of the art patrol/response vehicles into our roading maintenance contracts, which only require a Class 1 license to drive (licensed truck drivers are in short supply). 500t CO2 emissions will be saved for each vehicle in its lifetime. They can be used for multiple tasks, hold a variety of equipment, and offer greater response capabilities.

We are proud to be part of the transition to a low-carbon economy. As we work towards these goals, one of the key steps is the transition for 100% electric vehicles in our fleet. in 2021 was added 40 MG ZS SUV's into our fleet as part of our light vehicle replacement plan. We chose the MG ZS electric vehicle SUV as it takes just 45 minutes to charge to 80% on rapid charge and allows for up to 260km of travel per single full charge. These vehicles provide our staff with the advantages of a zero-emissions vehicle in a cost-effective way that does not compromise on practicality. This is essential in an integrated services business.

Improvements to the heavy vehicle fleet

Downer has been replacing its large trucks with more fuel-efficient European light commercial vehicles that generate significantly reduced gas emissions. For every litre of fuel used, the new fleet generates 51% lower levels of CO2 and 94% lower levels of NO2. We are also looking at large electric and hydrogen vehicles from Scania, as alternatives to the diesel truck fleet.