Sustainability at GMCT

Our Sustainability Strategy 2025-2030 guides our commitment to creating environmentally responsible memorial parks across Melbourne through sustainable land management, biodiversity conservation, and community engagement.

As custodians of over 600 hectares of parklands across Melbourne, we are committed to preserving and restoring the land for generations to come.

Our Sustainability Strategy 2025-2030 guides how we embed environmental, social, and economic sustainability into everything we do - from the services we provide to the memorial parks we care for.

Our Sustainability Strategy 2025-2030

Sustainability is one of our core organisational values. Our Sustainability Strategy sets out our vision for creating memorial parks that use natural resources responsibly, actively minimise operational impacts, and enrich both the community and environment.

The strategy is built around three key focus areas that will guide our work through to 2030:

1. Community & Social Impact

Connecting communities with our memorial parks through positive engagement, education about sustainable interment and memorialisation options, and partnerships that drive improved environmental and social outcomes across Victoria’s cemetery sector.

2. Planning & Design

Creating sustainable spaces that enhance local environments by improving land-use efficiency, preserving and restoring ecology and biodiversity, protecting waterways, and increasing tree canopy cover across our sites to reduce urban heat island effects.

3. Products, Services & Operations

Embedding sustainability into everything we do by progressively working towards net zero emissions, improving climate resilience across our sites, and making carbon-efficient disposition practices more readily available to communities.

Our Commitment to Sustainable Memorial Parks

While traditional cemeteries have occupied land with a focus on permanence and preservation, we’re reimagining memorial parks as dynamic, living ecosystems that support biodiversity and provide nature-rich parks for the community to enjoy.

Sustainability is a driving principle across our development projects, including the new Harkness Memorial Park development in Melbourne’s west.

Our sustainability approach follows key ecological principles:

  • Responsible land use and minimal land disturbance

  • Environmental and cultural land management practices

  • Optimised use of resources (such as energy, materials, and water)

  • Reducing the ecological footprint of burials and cremations

  • Focus on healthy environments for all

Sustainability in Action

Natural Burial Options

We provide natural burial options at Lilydale Memorial Park and Healesville Cemetery, allowing families to choose burials that minimise environmental impact.

Learn more about Natural Burials.

Rehabilitating Our Waterways

We’re rehabilitating the banks of Campbellfield Creek at Northern Memorial Park. Our plans include weed management, adjustment of the flood bank back to a more natural creek alignment, and native plantings to promote habitat for small birds.

Living Legacy Tree Memorials

We partner with Living Legacy Forest, who offer special tree memorials where cremated remains can return to the earth in an environmentally sensitive way.

Learn more about Living Legacy Tree Memorials.

Recycling Our Resources

Rather than sourcing crushed rock from commercial suppliers, our team saves, processes and crushes boulders that have been cleared from across our locations over decades. Around 2,000 cubic metres of recycled materials were used as the base for new infrastructure and pathways at the River Red Gum Precinct at Northern Memorial Park.

More information

Learn more about our sustainability commitments, objectives, and the actions we’re taking to create memorial parks that honour the past while caring for the future.

Download our Sustainability Strategy 2025-2030 (PDF)