Australia’s REA Group names former BHP exec as Chief People and Sustainability Officer

ASX-listed REA Group, a leading digital real estate advertising company, has appointed Elisa Nerone as its new Chief People and Sustainability Officer.

Nerone replaces Mary Lemonis, who left the firm eight months ago following health issues. She joins from Australian mining firm BHP, where she spent the past three and a half years, most recently as Vice President of Human Resources. 

Nerone can be considered a BHP veteran, as she also held a number of HR roles there from 2007 to 2017. Between her two stints at the miner, she led HR initiatives at Latitude Financial Services and was a member of the Executive Innovation Board of SAP.

REA Group sustainability strategy

REA Group, which operates a number of property listing websites across Australia, Asia and the US, employs 3,300 people in six countries and posted revenue of  A$726 million (US$475 million) in the first half of 2024, up 18% from last year.

The group is targeting net zero emissions across all scopes by 2050 and is in the process of assessing climate-related physical and transition risks. By 2030, REA is looking to cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 42% and Scope 3 emissions by 25%, from a 2020 baseline.

As of 2023, Scope 1 and 2 emissions were down by more than 60% from the baseline, but Scope 3 emissions had almost doubled.

But as a digital business with a relatively small carbon footprint (just over 9,000 tonnes of CO2e in 2023), the company’s sustainability strategy currently revolves mainly around social goals, including advocating for housing affordability, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) targets.