Infrastructure enables essential services like transportation, energy, and communication. But building and operating these assets contribute significantly to carbon emissions.
Qube Holdings, an Australian freight and logistics company, recognized that infrastructure decarbonization is challenging but achievable.
To build its Moorebank Logistics Park (MLP), an infrastructure development designed to revolutionize the transport and handling of freight, Qube worked with Arcadis to develop a holistic approach for reducing the project’s carbon footprint from construction to operation.
With a total area the size of Sydney’s central business district, the MLP project included the design and development of over 30 hectares of warehousing and distribution facilities, as well as upgrades to approximately 1.5 kilometers of Moorebank Avenue. Qube wanted to better understand the environmental considerations in developing the intermodal terminal, so we conducted strategic environmental assessment and planning. Our scope expanded to include wider sustainability plan development, detailed design, flood and traffic modeling, and eventually the Owners Engineer role.
With a comprehensive carbon reduction plan in place, Qube demonstrated that infrastructure assets can continue to serve the needs of communities while minimizing carbon footprints. The company secured $150 million of funding from Clean Energy Finance Corporation to implement several sustainability measures by 2030, when MLP is at full capacity.
The project marks a significant milestone in Australia’s emission reduction history. Sustainability features in its warehouse and the shift from emission-intensive trucks to a rail network will reduce transport-related emissions by 110,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, ease road congestion, and improve safety for road users.
Alongside its positive environmental outcomes, Arcadis’ pioneering approach in digital engineering and innovation has set new industry benchmarks for infrastructure development services, evolving into a best-practice planning standard for future projects.
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