HARLEQUIN SUPPORTS SUSTAINABILITY
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Rating Reporting
Located at the mouth of the Brisbane River, Port of Brisbane is managed and developed by the Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL) under a 99-year lease from the Queensland Government.
The Customer Challenge
Port of Brisbane is committed to making a difference and want to ensure the decisions they make enable the Port to be ‘Here for the future’. Chief Executive Officer Neil Stephens commented that, “Sustainability at the Port of Brisbane is a whole-of business strategy. Everything we do incorporates the principles of sustainability with the long-term future of the business and its community at its core”.
The sustainability strategy at PBPL brings together a large range of business initiatives within four key themes: Planet, People, Prosperity, and Partnerships. These drive their long- term aspirations as well as an overall goal for each key theme, which they aim to achieve by 2030.
With these goals in mind, PBPL wanted a way that they could accurately report on their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) rating, assisting them in their pursuit of their 2030 vision.
The Solution
The Port of Brisbane (PBPL) partnered with TechConnect to identify the best way to efficiently achieve their sustainability goals. Through a thorough Discovery and Design session, TechConnect carefully assessed PBPL’s requirements and determined that Harlequin, an Intelligent Data Platform, was the optimal choice.
Working closely with PBPL’s internal team, TechConnect implemented Harlequin. Harlequin offers distinct advantages that align with PBPL’s needs. It efficiently ingests, centralizes, cleanses, and transforms a wide range of data, including Solar, Power, Water, Waste, Weather, Air Quality, and Orb data, directly relevant to PBPL’s sustainability goals. Moreover, Harlequin extends its functionality to encompass additional data sources, such as Financial and HR data, providing PBPL with a comprehensive and unified data ecosystem.
The Outcome
PBPL can now utilise their data from a consolidated and trusted source, making it easier to make fast, informed decisions that will drive business objectives and ensure that the Port’s environmental and sustainability initiatives are met.
In addition, PBPL’s internal team were an integral part of the solution and worked collaboratively with the TechConnect team to up-skill and learn about Harlequin to ensure the best outcomes for the Port. PBPL recently secured a $500 million sustainability-linked loan to be financed by a syndicate of 10 banks. The loan will allow PBPL to decrease its funding costs should it meet the following sustainability linked metrics targets:
- Emissions reduction: to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions periodically to below 8,702 tCO2e by FY26 (from an FY22 baseline of 12,289 tCO2e)
- Biodiversity: Rehabilitate 10 hectares of land in aggregate across FY24, FY25 and FY26
- Mental health first aid: To achieve Tier 2 (Advanced Workplace) status given by Mental Health First Aid Australia by FY25
TechConnect continues to work with Port of Brisbane and look forward to assisting with their 2030 focus area targets and to the success of this engagement and collaboration with PBPL’s team, TechConnect has further developed Harlequin as a focused ESG offering named ‘Earthwise’.
