At GPT, we recognise that our business is both shaped by and has the potential to shape sustainability-related issues, particularly in the environments around our assets and the communities in which we operate. In response to this, we have embedded sustainability practices throughout our operations, integrating them into our organisational culture, stakeholder engagement, development design, governance, and investment decisions.
Our approach
To achieve our sustainability ambition, our approach focuses on:
- Responsible business: We drive value and resilience for all stakeholders by embracing responsible business practices.
- Innovation: We foster innovation by developing new solutions for emerging risks and opportunities.
- Systematisation: We drive continuous improvement in delivering sustainable outcomes.
- Engagement: We engage with stakeholders to support and deliver sustainable outcomes.
Aligning with a double materiality approach, GPT’s sustainability policies consider the impacts of our business on sustainability-related matters as well as the potential impacts of social and environmental matters on our core business. In 2024, four priority areas underpinned our sustainability ambition:
- Supporting development and investment platform growth through futureproofing assets, navigating sustainability-related regulation and providing sustainability services to our partners.
- Optimising building performance using a systematic data driven approach that drives operational efficiencies and informs social strategy alignment.
- Deliver our ‘Carbon Neutral Now, Nature Positive Next’ ambitions, including delivery of carbon neutral milestones while taking steps towards addressing our nature goals.
- Drive customer, supply chain and community impact by embedding social plans across retail and office, advancing and delivering on our RAP, human rights and modern slavery commitments, and maximising GPT Foundation participation.
Governance
Corporate governance plays an integral role in supporting GPT’s business and helping us deliver on our strategy.
Full details of GPT’s governance arrangements, including Board and Committee Charters and key policies, can be found in the Governance section of our website. These are reviewed regularly to ensure that they remain appropriate, meet regulatory requirements and evolving stakeholder expectations, and maintain a high standard of corporate governance.
Sustainability governance and management
The GPT Board is responsible for the overall governance, management and strategy setting for GPT, including our targeted sustainability approach.
The Board has established the Audit and Risk Committee, Human Resources and Remuneration Committee, and the Nomination Committee to assist it in carrying out its responsibilities. The Board and each of its Committees has a role in GPT’s management of our sustainability approach.
The Board Audit and Risk Committee has ultimate responsibility for overseeing the application and management of the Risk Management Framework and the Group’s Environmental Management System (EMS) to ensure that sustainability-related financial and environmental risks and impacts are appropriately identified and assessed.
Sustainability Policies
To underpin our purpose of creating experiences that drive positive impact for people, place and planet, a suite of sustainability policies has been implemented at GPT in areas of environmental sustainability, social sustainability, health and safety, suppliers and employees.
GPT’s Sustainability Policy Suite
GPT aims to be a positive contributor to environmental sustainability while improving resilience to environmental changes, guided by our policies related to climate change, energy, materials & resource circularity, biodiversity and water.
GPT aims to maintain high ethical standards in our business practices and decision making, including respecting the human rights of all individuals we engage with.
Safety of employees, service providers, contractors, customers and members of the public is prioritised above everything else.
We strive to foster a culture and work environment in which our people have opportunities to do their best work, guided by our code of conduct and additional policies related to workplace behaviour, employee engagement, diversity & inclusion, grievance, learning & development, and our whistleblower program.
At GPT, we work in partnership with suppliers to realise the full value of relationships and to positively contribute to stakeholder communities and the environment, guided by our Supplier Policy and Supplier Code of Conduct.
Materiality
GPT identifies and addresses both financial and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) materiality matters that are relevant to our stakeholders. We define materiality by considering the risks and opportunities that influence our ability for long-term value creation.
Our materiality process
Utilising a ‘double’ materiality approach, our materiality assessment references multiple stakeholders and information sources, including our Megatrends review, economic outlooks, company research, investor and customer feedback to consider both:
- Financially material topics, which create or erode enterprise value, and
- Impact material topics, which reflect significant positive or negative impacts on people, the environment and the economy.
We analyse insights, issues and opportunities from a range of internal and external sources and stakeholders, including:
- Investor and analyst feedback
- Board feedback
- Global human rights frameworks
- International environmental management standards
- GPT’s Key Risks Dashboard
- Employee engagement and surveys
- Tenant and customer engagement and surveys
- Global megatrends and data-driven industry trends
- Civil society and government engagement and research
- Participation in external events and forums
- Industry memberships, and
- Media focus and questions.
We define what is material to our business by considering the risks and opportunities that influence our ability to deliver on our purpose and strategy. Material matters are those that have the highest likelihood and/or consequence of impacting our business and our ability to create value for our stakeholders over the long term, whether by:
- Directly impacting the financial performance of our business and assets, or
- Impacting the environment and communities in which we operate.
To identify what is material, GPT research trends, consults advisors and regularly engages with stakeholders to consider and understand their views. GPT conducts regular materiality assessments, including formal external assessments and annual reviews of key megatrends, material matters and ongoing stakeholder feedback.
Workshops are held across our business with internal stakeholders, and subject matter experts to evaluate and prioritise material topics. These material topics are considered against the broader issues and insights from Step 1 and incorporated where relevant into GPT’s Key Risk Dashboard and ESG Strategy (see Strategy section). Workshops are used to identify and prioritise risks, trends and opportunities specific to business units and strategy delivery.
The Key Risk Dashboard is reviewed quarterly by the GPT Executive Team and six-monthly by the Board. The Dashboard informs Group strategy development and review.
Recent materiality updates – implementation detail
Material issues evolve over time, so we review and update our material topics accordingly. We conduct both internal reviews from our business units and subject matter experts as well as focused externally facilitated reviews. See above for the steps taken to maintain an up-to-date view of what is material to our business.
In 2024, we conducted a comprehensive, externally facilitated double materiality assessment. The process identified eight of the most material financial and sustainability impacts associated with our business, aligning with processes recommended by the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB)’s standards for IFRS S1, the incoming mandatory Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards, and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines.
Stakeholder engagement
Effective stakeholder engagement helps GPT to identify and manage business risks and opportunities, while also informing our decisions as we act as a responsible business and create long-term value.
We foster collaborative relationships with stakeholders to ensure that we understand their needs, interests, expectations and aspirations to encourage positive sustainability outcomes.
Stakeholder engagement activities take place across our business, from engaging with tenants and customers as we manage our properties, to engaging with local communities and government authorities as part of planning activities for developments. We regularly meet with our investors to understand what is important to them and share our learning broadly to influence outcomes beyond our direct business.
Click below to view the key stakeholder groups interested in and impacting our business activities and our engagement with them.
Human rights
GPT aims to maintain high ethical standards in our business practices and decision making, including respecting the human rights of all individuals we engage with.
We focus on advancing our environmental, First Nations engagement and modern slavery goals and utilise our Risk Management Framework to conduct human rights due diligence across our business.
We participate in global initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) which we have been a member of since February 2012, and our Human Rights Statement mirrors the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).
As a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI), we confirm our commitment to responsible business practices worldwide and leverage our influence to foster sustainable value creation for stakeholders. See our Responsible Investing section below for more information about our approach.
GPT’s priority SDGs
Taking action for the Sustainable Development Goals
We recognise the ambition and importance of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) “to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”. We acknowledge the SDGs as a call to action to improve lives and prospects of people everywhere.
As part of our double materiality assessment and follow-up reviews, we have identified the priority SDGs most relevant to our business, and where we can have the most impact. We have also aligned our GRI reporting to show action across all 17 SDGs.
Responsible Investment
As a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI), we confirm our commitment to responsible business practices worldwide and leverage our influence to foster sustainable value creation for stakeholders.
GPT identifies, addresses and reports on both financial materiality as well as environmental and social impact materiality matters that are relevant and important to our stakeholders, guided by various frameworks, including an ISO-based approach and the GRI’s Sustainability Reporting Standards. Both financial and impact considerations are embedded in GPT’s strategy as well as in decision making practices across investment, development, asset management and funds management.
We consider not only our legal and regulatory obligations but also sustainability standards, investor objectives and broader stakeholder feedback to inform our policies, strategy and decision making in this area. We regularly review our Group strategy, policies, processes and sustainability objectives to ensure our initiatives, actions and reporting align with responsible business outcomes and undertake regular formal and informal engagement with a variety of stakeholders engaged with and impacted by our business to inform our approach.
To underpin our purpose of creating experiences that drive positive impact for people, place and planet, a suite of sustainability policies has been implemented at GPT in areas of environmental sustainability, social sustainability, health and safety, suppliers and employees.
