REA Group Limited

09/19/2023 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/18/2023 19:34

REA Group’s FY23 Sustainability Report and carbon footprint

Responsible and sustainable business practices are core to the way REA does business and todayI'mpleased to share our fifthannual Sustainability Report.Our report providesdetails of REA's progress in key topics across Environment, Social and Governance (ESG)inFY23.

Highlights

In FY23, we continued to advance our ESG efforts and contribute to REA's sustainable growth into the future, as well as the value we deliver. Key highlights include:

  • Delivering a material uplift in our data privacy and cyber security practices.
  • Announcing that REA Group is targeting net zero emissions across scope 1, 2 and 3 by 2050.
  • Reducing REA Australia's electricity emissions by 64% annually due to the move to GreenPower accredited renewable energy.
  • Investing almost $2 million in the community, including the establishment of our Mortgage Choice Foundation with brokers contributing $5 for every loan, matched by REA.
  • Great Place to Work named REA Australia's fifth Best Workplace in 2023 and we are the only large Australian organisation to be included in the Great Place to Work, Best Workplace for Women list.
  • Expanding our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion focus to establish expert partnerships which will increase our employee experience for people living with disability and/or neurodivergent people.
  • Maintaining our 'AA' Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) ESG rating.

Carbon Footprint

Our Sustainability Report also includes REA's carbon footprint and in FY23, REA Group's total emissions were 9,015.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). This is an increase of 21.3% since FY22 and emphasises the need for increased action to achieve our recently announced target of net zero emissions across scope 1, 2 and 3 by 2050.

Pleasingly, REA's Scope 1 and 2 emissions are trending down and have decreased to 61.7% below our 2020 base year. Scope 3 emissions grew because of increased business travel in the first full year after the pandemic, the reassessment of our emissions boundary to include ICT Hardware for the first time, and improvements in Scope 3 data quality.

At the time of publishing our FY23 Sustainability Report, our sustainability team was in the process of finalising the Climate Active carbon neutral certification requirements for our FY23 footprint.

The year ahead

In FY24, we will focus on reducing REA's overall carbon emissions to progress our net zero ambitions. This will include understanding the opportunity for renewable energy offerings for our REA India operations and pursuing collaboration with our value chain partners to support reduction of our scope 3 emissions.

We will enhance our sustainable procurement practices by further embedding sustainability into procurement decisions to mitigate risks from the supply chain and aim to create positive environmental impacts.

We are also preparing for the expected introduction of mandatory International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) climate related financial disclosures in Australia in 2024-25 with an in-depth analysis of prioritised climate-related risks and opportunities to address and quantify business impacts.

This year we have also published an ESG Databookon our website, which contains the metrics included in the Sustainability Report. I encourage you to take a look at our FY23 Sustainability Report and if you've got any questions or feedback, please get in touch with our Sustainability team: [email protected].