Insights

Australian insights

National Environmental Standards(Opens in a new tab/window)

The Australian Government made(Opens in a new tab/window) 4 new National Environmental Standards, which set principles that must be met when projects are assessed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The four new Standards include:

• Matters of National Environmental Significance
• Environmental Offsets
• Community Engagement
• Data and Information.

These National Environmental Standards will not apply to assessments and approval decisions until the new approval tests start; this will occur on or before 1 December 2026. The development of a standard for First Nations engagement is underway and will be released for public consultation when ready.

Accelerating Australia’s Circular Water Economy Report(Opens in a new tab/window)

Circular Australia, the Australian Water Association, Arup, and SUEZ have produced a report(Opens in a new tab/window) that sets out the policy, market, and investment shifts needed to unlock circular water opportunities at scale, aligned with Australia’s national ambition to double circularity by 2035. The report provides a consolidated evidence base for utilities, industry, and government to move recycled water, resource recovery, and energy generation from pilot projects to mainstream infrastructure investment. 

The report argues that Australia’s water system is a major untapped circular economy opportunity, noting that around 2,000 gigalitres of lost water discharged to the environment annually could be recycled back into the economy for use across residential, agriculture and industry. Key findings identify four high-potential market areas: water reuse and recycling; nutrient, salt and metal recovery; energy and bioproducts; and components and chemicals recovery, supported by policy reform, market development and investment to scale circular water solutions.

Consultation on the Safeguard Mechanism Review(Opens in a new tab/window)

The Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is seeking feedback(Opens in a new tab/window) on the Safeguard Mechanism policy settings, to ensure they are appropriately calibrated and continue to deliver emissions reductions in line with Australia’s targets. The scope of the review includes:

• the post-2030 decline rate for baselines
• whether the scheme is appropriately incentivising onsite abatement
• suitability of arrangements for trade exposed facilities
• consideration of the final report from the Carbon Leakage Review. 

To have your say, read the consultation paper and submit written feedback by (AEST) 11:59pm, Friday 18 September 2026.

Climate-related transition planning(Opens in a new tab/window)

The Australian Government’s Department of the Treasury has published(Opens in a new tab/window) voluntary good practice guidance for transition planning, as one of the priority initiatives identified as part of the Sustainable Finance Roadmap. The guidance will help organisations to navigate the impacts of the net zero transition and changing climate on their operations, including by making it easier to manage climate-related risks. The guidance is divided into four stages – assessing (or re-assessing) organisational position, setting strategic ambitions, planning actions, and implementing (or re-implementing) strategic ambition and actions. This guidance does not address the requirements for disclosing information on an entity’s climate-related transition plan under the mandatory climate-related financial disclosure regime.

Improving the efficiency of climate-related financial disclosures(Opens in a new tab/window)

The Australian Government is consulting(Opens in a new tab/window) on changes to improve the efficiency of climate-related financial disclosures. The main proposals include:

• changing assurance rules to reduce compliance costs
• providing clearer guidance on key terms and concepts
• reducing the burden of information requests across supply chains.

The consultation is open until 2 October 2026.

ASIC's fourth greenwashing civil penalty outcome(Opens in a new tab/window)

In the Australian Security and Investment Commission's (ASIC) fourth greenwashing civil penalty outcome, the Supreme Court of New South Wales found(Opens in a new tab/window) that Fiducian Investment Management Services Limited (FIMS) had failed to act in accordance with its duty of care and diligence. The Court also found that FIMS had made statements that were liable to mislead the public about the ‘ethical’ or ‘socially responsible’ investment objectives of the Fund. FIMS has been ordered to pay a $7.3 million penalty. 

ASIC Chair Sarah Court said investors should be able to trust sustainability-related claims made by investment managers. 'This case is a reminder that ESG claims must be backed by robust systems, oversight and governance. Fund managers and responsible entities must comply with their duties, and they cannot make sustainability claims that are not supported in practice.'

Appointments to create a strong foundation for External Reporting Australia(Opens in a new tab/window)

Australia’s Treasury has shared(Opens in a new tab/window) details of its appointments to the Financial Reporting Committee (FRC). These appointments will form the inaugural Governing Council of External Reporting Australia (ERA) once it commences operations on 1 December 2026. ERA will combine the standard‑setting functions of the Australian Accounting Standards Board, Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and the FRC, and be responsible for accounting, auditing and assurance and sustainability standards. The appointment of members with extensive experience in sustainability strategy highlights the important role it plays in finance and reporting processes, as well as the increasing crossover of these domains of governance.

Advancing the valuation of nature(Opens in a new tab/window)

BHP has shared an update(Opens in a new tab/window) on its progress towards measuring the value that nature provides to its business. This work includes establishing a natural capital accounts baseline, as well as a collaborative project with the CSIRO to describe the approaches taken at the company to engage with their nature-related risk management and disclosure requirements. These processes include the development of a natural capital workflow explainer which walks through the company’s approach to natural capital accounting and assessment, as well as a technical workbook which can be viewed to see the types of metrics under consideration and how these are monitored.

Four-years of learning: Wilderlands releases Whitepaper Version 2.0(Opens in a new tab/window)

Wilderlands has released(Opens in a new tab/window) Whitepaper Version 2.0, bringing together four years of learning to show how permanent, measurable and transparent biodiversity protection can support credible action for nature. Wilderland’s Whitepaper calls for:

• protection to be permanent
• each biological diversity unit to be georeferenced, independently created, registered and retired 
• 20% of units generated from each project to be retained as a loss buffer and not for sale
• genuine partnership with Traditional Custodians and First Nations peoples.

Wilderlands will soon release a companion document, the Principles for Public Claims: practical guidance on what retiring biological diversity unit substantiates, how organisations can describe their contribution, and where claims risk begins.