(3 December 2025 – Global) ANZ’s sustainability division is next in the cross hairs of CEO Nuno Matos wide ranging restructure as the European Union (EU) sustainability regulatory framework is scaled back sharply.
ANZ’s Group General Manager of Climate, Gerard Brown, will leave within two weeks, Capital Brief’s Jack Derwin has confirmed, amid a raft of other ESG cuts.
Brown managed ANZ’s 100 largest emitters, engaging with the bank’s clients on reporting, governance, disclosures and progress against targets. Reporting directly to group communications head Tony Warren, Brown is expected to retire with his role restructured and a replacement not necessarily assigned.
Mapping out the next three decades, the EU was clear that it would be making courageous moves to decarbonise not only the bloc itself, but also foreign corporates that interact with it Jenny Messenger reports for GTR.
As ESG obligations shifted to become mandatory rather than voluntary, corporates had to think more carefully about their own operations and supply chains.
“The EU radically greened its regulatory book, and brought in a host of different ESG requirements” commented Sidley Austin Partner Nicolas Lockhart.
Since then however the EU has entered a period of “soul-searching” as sustainability regulation is aggressively scaled back. The bloc is revising its priorities as the global mood shifts on net-zero policies, spurred by right-wing gains in the 2024 European Parliament elections and recommendations in a report on the future of Europe’s competitiveness.
“Even after the EU omnibus process, the EU will remain at the forefront of this wave of ESG regulation. The question, I think, is how far ahead will the EU be?” Lockhart added.