The Australian government has finally fulfilled its promise to mandate sustainability reporting in Australia. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Bill 2024 (Bill) passed through both Houses of Parliament on 9 September 2024 and received Royal Assent on 17 September 2024. The legislation commenced 1 January 2025.
Determining which entities must report and by when can be challenging.
This paper includes a detailed Q&A section based on client feedback. Notably, it incorporates an in-depth guide on identifying which entities need to prepare mandatory sustainability reports in their annual reports, featuring a simple decision tree. It also covers whether mandatory sustainability reporting is required in half-year financial reports and what should be included in a sustainability report.
The Bill amends the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act) and mandates sustainability reporting (initially only consisting of climate statements and notes thereto) to be included in annual reports. The law will expand in future so that mandatory sustainability reports in annual reports will cover other sustainability topics, such as nature and biodiversity when the relevant IFRS® Sustainability Disclosure Standards are issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board.
Read full article
