The Greens have expressed concerns that GeelongPort appears to be walking back its environmental commitments.
The port has announced it is ditching audits of its decarbonisation efforts and has stopped buying carbon offsets to reduce its emissions tally.
Member for Western Victoria Sarah Mansfield says the port has previously shown ambitious leadership on carbon reduction in their sector and made some good progress in the past few years.
“I was disappointed to see this announcement from GeelongPort,” she said.
“We’re in a climate crisis right now and we need all of our industry leaders to be stepping up their climate commitments not stepping back from them.”
In 2021 GeelongPort was the first in the country to be certified carbon neutral through the government backed Climate Active program, but says it will no longer take part in the scheme.
Ms Mansfield said the decision followed the ports “backflip on their position on the Viva Floating Gas Terminal last year.”
The port operators initially opposed the project, citing impacts on the environment amongst its reasons, but has since withdrawn its submission after agreeing to infrastrucutre investments with the fuel refiner.
The GeelongPort declined to comment further about why it was no longer taking part in the carbon audit or purchasing offsets, but in a statement released last week said it was working on “on delivering a realistic and achievable medium- and long-term carbon reduction plan.”
A delivery date for the plan is December 2024
“Carbon reduction is a complex process – and at GeelongPort we want to get it right,” The Port’s statement said
Image: GeelongPort was criticised for backflipping on its opposition to Viva’s floating gas terminal (Geelong Renewables Not Gas)
