(2 August 2022 – Australia) The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has urged corporates to be aware of their sustainability disclosure obligations.
ASIC is gearing up to take enforcement action in explicit instances of greenwashing as enterprises in Australia and globally prepare for harmonised sustainability standards. ASIC has undertaken surveillance of ASX 200 companies, with 103 already reporting voluntarily under the previous template put together by the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.
“Because we’re watching” threatened ASIC Deputy Chair Karen Chester.
“Where we see some egregious examples of greenwashing and we think that there’s harm from that, then we’d probably look at taking some enforcement action”
“There will be different ways we’ll deal with breaches, some people might get a telephone call when they put out a prospectus and there’s a statement that we think is marketing or aspirational and we’ll give them a nudge and they might fix it” Ms Chester added.