Fosters talks green - but it’s all hot air
March 22nd, 2007
Following the filing of legal action against Fosters and the NSW Government over environmentally unsustainable plans for their old brewery site in Chippendale, Fosters has responded by refusing to meet the litigants and by airing claims about their own ‘commitment’ to sustainable development.
The Concept Plan approved by Planning Minister Frank Sartor allows up to 2,800 residents on the site plus 4,800 workers served by 2,320 parking spots, the equivalent of several small towns.
Yet this massive addition to Sydney will essentially be plugged in to the coal-fired power grid and connected to existing sewage and stormwater systems that overflow straight into Blackwattle Bay. It will generate up to 144,000 tonnes of greenhouse pollution and spew out 120 million litres of sewage per year.
The approved ratio of car parking to apartments is more than double the existing ratio in Chippendale, generating another 12,000 tonnes of pollution per annum.
A sustainable approach could have reduced these figures by at least 90 per cent.
This is a tragedy because it sentences Sydney to an unsustainable future.
Despite this, Fosters blithely spruiks its ‘green’ credentials.Their Water Sustainability Platform talks about Fosters’ “Vision of zero harm to the environment.”
But on analysis, Fosters’ nice-sounding programs to reduce water and electricity use are not really about the environment but are primarily money-saving schemes painted green. Visions are cheap, I guess. As soon as a few bucks are at stake, as in the CUB Concept Plan, it’s business as usual. Dirty business.
They even admit it. In their Sustainability Action Plan they say: “Any reduction in the use of energy is a direct reduction in the cost of production and this has been the key driver for energy reduction activity across the Company.”
The only people with the power to halt this disaster are Fosters and Frank Sartor.
Yet Fosters claims opponents will be able to ‘air their views’ during later community consultations as the plan goes through Council.
Unfortunately, as Fosters well knows, ‘airing one’s views’ will be pointless as the City has no power to enforce any real sustainable outcomes for the giant project.
We have calculated estimates of the environmental damage the completed Chippendale project will directly cause. Click on the graph above to see the stark figures compared to the truly green possibilities of a genuine sustainable approach. See below for our pollution estimates as text, and here’s a link to Fosters’ response to the litigation.
Climate change pollution per resident - 4 to 8 tonnes per annum
Total residents - 12,000 to 24,000 tonnes per annum
Climate change pollution per worker - 5 to 10 tonnes a year
Total workers - 24,000 to 48,400 tonnes per annum
Cars parked on site - 4.3 to 5.2 tonnes per car
Total cars - 9,976 to 12,064 tonnes per annum
Total Climate change pollution - 45,976 to 84064 tonnes per annum
Climate change pollution from construction - 40,000 to 60,000 tonnes per annum.
Total construction pollution (over ten years) - 400,000 to 600,000 tonnes
Water imported from catchment areas per person - 110 litres per day
Total water imported - 1.2 billion litres per annum
Sewage discharged - 1.2 billion litres per annum
Raw sewage overflow into Blackwattle Bay - 30 million litres per year
