(1 August 2022 – Australia) An unprecedented consensus on the need for sustainability reporting including action on climate risk has been successfully co-ordinated by the Australian Banking Association (ABA) featuring Australia’s most influential business and finance bodies.
The group is implementing a new reporting regime that aims to set a global baseline and welcomed the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) draft sustainability standards in a joint submission. Representing 20 peak professional, industry and investor bodies in Australia, the group includes Chartered Accountants Australia, the Australian Shareholders Association and the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors
The peak bodies together represent more than 400 enterprises, 300 investors with US$33 trillion assets under management (AUM) and 500,000 business and finance professionals. The group considers clear, transparent, comprehensive and comparable disclosure of sustainability-related information to be part of the foundation of a well-functioning global financial system and supports a global approach to the development of sustainability disclosure standards and for the ISSB to be the global body to issue these standards.
Climate represents a first order risk to the Australian economy, the financial system and investors. The group supports the Paris Agreement and its objective to take into account the needs of a just transition while achieving a net zero emissions economy and resilient Australia.
To avoid large-scale financial risks from a disorderly transition to net zero emissions and the physical impacts of climate change, there must be clear and comparable disclosure of sustainability-related and in particular climate related information.
“We want to help them. This reporting is about recognising the obvious economic opportunities presented by more investment in cleaner, cheaper, more reliable energy” commented Australian Federal Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers.