Contaminated land can pose significant risks to our health and environment and addressing it effectively can often come with a hefty price tag. So how can we maximise all that sustainable remediation has to offer?
Within the contaminated land management industry, there are well-established tools to help guide sustainable remediation planning and process, with the Australasian Sustainable Remediation Forum (SuRF ANZ[i]) playing a leading role. Sustainable Remediation is defined as ‘the elimination and/or control of unacceptable risks in a safe and timely manner whilst optimising the environmental, social and economic value of the work[ii]’.
When evaluating ‘value’, investors and banks increasingly integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations into due diligence processes (Table 1). The remediation of contaminated land and groundwater are starting to draw more attention in respect of ESG value, risks and opportunities.
Effective ESG reporting requires robust and consistent collation of sustainability metrics that can withstand stakeholder scrutiny, and this is certainly an area for improvement in the contaminated land management industry. Overstating success risks ‘greenwashing,’ while excluding remediation projects from ESG reporting makes the benefits invisible to stakeholders. Understating success misses the chance to highlight long-term financial benefits and contributions to asset resilience and broader ESG goals. Positive contributions can become increasingly material and impactful when accounting for multiple remediation sites within large asset portfolios.
Another global initiative with strong applicability to sustainable remediation planning is the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD[iii]), which helps organisations assess, manage, and disclose nature-related risks and opportunities. The framework highlights how land and groundwater use within a company’s operations can pose business risks (e.g. regulatory compliance, financial burden, reputational damage).
Sustainable remediation of contaminated land and groundwater not only mitigates environmental risks but also enhances long-term value and resilience. Adopting the TNFD framework for sustainable remediation practices can help to better manage nature-related risks and opportunities, create value, and demonstrate a real commitment to achieving ESG goals and realising a more sustainable and resilient future.
Rasika Mohan (Executive Advisor – Environmental, Social, and Governance) Lisa Powell (Technical Director, Contamination Assessment and Remediation), Andrew Thomas (Business Group Leader, Contamination Assessment and Remediation)
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[ii] Australian Standard AS ISO 18504:2022
[iii] https://tnfd.global/