With a 50-year history as a developer of residential communities, office precincts, industrial facilities and shopping centres, Mirvac has a defined purpose of reimagining urban life.

It delivers its mission through its sustainability strategy, This Changes Everything. The company aspires not just to "do no harm" but aims to deliver regenerative outcomes for cities by being net positive in carbon and water, sending zero waste to landfill, creating a strong sense of belonging for people who are vulnerable, and being the most trusted owner and developer in Australia.

Two areas in which Mirvac has made an impact are carbon emissions and gender equity. 

Net positive in carbon 

Mirvac sees the company as playing an important leadership role in bringing about positive change in the built environment sector.

Mirvac’s South Eveleigh development in Sydney with solar panels installed on its rooftop

As the world’s population grows, so does the human impact on Earth, particularly when it comes to climate change. Even if all the recent net-zero pledges made at the United Nations COP26 conference in Glasgow were achieved, the world will still warm by 2.2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, which is well outside the 1.5 degrees Celsius aim climate scientists have agreed is needed to avoid catastrophic impact.

The built environment in Australia represents approximately 25 per cent of total emissions, and as a major player in the property industry, Mirvac stresses that its leadership can influence change. Notably, by designing, creating and managing high-quality, energy-efficient buildings operating on renewable energy, it not only reduces its emissions and impact, but also demonstrates the benefits of working as a force for good, inspiring and influencing others to do the same.  

In 2014, Mirvac set an industry-leading target to be net positive in carbon by 2030. In 2019, it brought that goal to life by releasing a detailed plan for achieving it.  

How Mirvac achieved its net-positive carbon goal by 2021

The plan, Planet Positive: Carbon, hinged on its commitment to eliminate more carbon than it emits and focussed on four elements: 

• Maximising energy efficiency at its assets 
• Building all-electric  
• Powering its assets with 100 per cent renewable electricity  
• Buying a small amount of high-quality offsets for the remainder of its Scope 1 emissions

On 1 July 2021, Mirvac reached net-positive carbon status nine years ahead of schedule. 

Mirvac’s executive leadership team’s response to Mirvac’s net-zero carbon achievement

A gender-equitable company 

Over the years, Mirvac has built a culture of inclusivity, innovation and collaboration, where people feel they belong and genuinely want to work. 

As a result of its efforts, it has been ranked number one globally for gender equality in Equileap's 2022 Global Report. Equileap is recognised as the global leader in gender reporting, researching 4,000 companies globally across 23 countries and assessing them against 19 gender equality criteria.

Its strong ranking is due to a commitment to flexibility, generous Shared Care Parental Leave Policy, zero pay gap for like-for-like roles and gender balance across its workforce.

Women representation

Mirvac believes that work is what one does and does not define the person. Hence, the more flexibility it offers for both men and women, the more equitable workplaces and homes will be. 

When more diverse voices are part of big decisions, better outcomes more reflective of the communities are reached. Recognising that this helps to keep the company in business, Mirvac aims to ensure women feature in senior management roles.   

Four out of nine of its board directors are women. Three out of eight people in its executive leadership are women. In line with HESTA's 40:40 Vision for senior executive teams, Mirvac has 43 per cent senior management roles filled by women from 2020.

The zero-dollar gender pay gap

In Australia, millennials (those born between 1981 and 1995) make up one of the two biggest social demographics, as noted in the 2021 Census, and account for 21.5 per cent of our 25.5 million residents.

Unfortunately, the Australian Government's Workplace Gender Equality Agency analysis says that the women in this cohort are unlikely to earn as much as the men.  

Mirvac found this unacceptable, and for the last six years, it has achieved and maintained a $0 gender pay gap on like-for-like roles.

As a result of cultivating a diverse and inclusive workplace, 93 per cent of Mirvac's employees state that they are proud to work for Mirvac, and the overall employee engagement score exceeds 80 per cent.

Furthermore, Mirvac's employee surveys showed that 87 per cent of employees validate that "Mirvac really allows [them] to make a positive difference" at work, and 90 per cent of employees believe that "Mirvac's commitment to social responsibility is genuine.”

As well as making Mirvac a better workplace, instilling a strong sense of belonging and purpose within employees also reduces unwanted turnover. Mirvac has retained 93 per cent of identified key talent, which is all the more important in the tight Australian labour market.