APA
Energy transition
3 min read
APA Group's first Climate Report
Written by
Adam Watson (2024)
Adam Watson
Published on
25 September 2023
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As a leading Australian owned and listed energy infrastructure business, APA has a critical role to play in Australia’s energy transition.

One of the key aspects of this is driving the decarbonisation of our business and, at the same time, supporting our customers to achieve their decarbonisation targets.

Our first Climate Report demonstrates the solid progress we have made over the last year towards the delivery of our Climate Transition Plan 2030 interim targets and goals.

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There were a number highlights across the business in FY23, including:

  • A 6.7 per cent net reduction in gas infrastructure emissions compared to APA’s FY21 base year.
  • A 5.3 per cent reduction in power generation emissions intensity compared to APA’s FY21 base year.
  • The commissioning of the Dugald River Solar Farm, Australia’s largest remote-grid solar farm (outside the NEM and WEM), supporting APA’s goal to reduce the operational emissions intensity of its power generation infrastructure.
  • Completion of a nationwide compressor electrification study and commencement of a business case for the electrification of our Wallumbilla compressor, as well as efficiency optimisation initiatives for select other compressors.
  • Procuring 100 per cent renewable electricity from FY23.
  • Investing in APA’s net zero emissions reduction initiatives with a committed investment of $150 million to $170 million between FY23-30.
  • Applying APA’s Offset Criteria where offsets are required. APA’s approach is to procure a diverse portfolio of offsets and to invest in projects with broader social and ecological benefit (co-benefits).
  • Completing a physical climate risk screening assessment of all majority owned assets.
  • Establishing a target to reduce operational methane emissions by at least 30 per cent by FY30, compared to APA’s FY21 base year.
  • Deploying leading-edge aerial methane detection technology on three major pipelines.
  • Initiating a strategy and leasing of electric vehicles, for APA’s goal to achieve a 100 per cent zero direct emissions vehicle fleet by 2030.
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Dugald River Solar Farm, QLD

We also recognise that seeking stakeholder support for our climate commitments and plans is important.

At our 2022 Annual Meeting, we fulfilled our commitment to hold a non-binding securityholder vote on our Climate Transition Plan. While this vote achieved significant majority support, with 79 per cent of securityholders in favour, the lessons from this vote, and the feedback we have received from our direct engagements with investors and other stakeholders throughout the year, were highly valuable in helping us to better understand stakeholder expectations and identify areas for future focus.

One area our stakeholders have said they want to see greater action on was managing our methane emissions. In our Climate Transition Plan, we committed to establishing a methane target during FY23 and we have now announced a new target to reduce operational methane emissions by at least 30 per cent by FY30 compared with FY21 base year.

And we know that addressing our Scope 3 emissions is important to many of our stakeholders. This year we have invested significant effort in identifying our Scope 3 emissions inventory and the priority emission reduction pathways for goal development to introduce a Scope 3 emission reduction goal in our next Climate Transition Plan in 2025.

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Looking forward, we have agreed to acquire the Alinta Energy Pilbara business which positions APA to play an important role supporting the decarbonisation of Australia’s resources sector, as we work with customers in the region to deliver reliable, affordable, low emissions energy.

This acquisition brings a substantial development pipeline that aligns with our priority asset classes, including new electricity transmission and renewables investments to support the energy transition.

We believe that APA is now set up to successfully deliver on our plans and to continue to contribute to Australia’s pathway to net zero through our strategy to be the partner of choice in delivering infrastructure solutions for Australia’s energy transition.