As many of our members will be aware, on 9 September 2024, Australia passed the Treasury Laws Amendment Bill, introducing new climate-related reporting requirements for certain corporations starting 1 January 2025. Companies meeting particular thresholds will need to create a mandatory Sustainability Report detailing how climate change affects their financials and operations. Environmental lawyer and ALGA member, Gabrielle Guthrie, has been considering the implications of the reform on sustainable remediation and the remediation sector more broadly.
In September, Gabrielle presented at RemTech in Italy on policy and legal changes that are relevant to sustainable remediation. There are two key takeaways. One is that, as a sector, we can expect project proponents and clients to be more conscious of emissions and energy use in projects from 2025 onwards. For this reason, we can expect a renewed interest in sustainable remediation with a focus on climate matters. Second, many engineering and consulting organisations will be caught by the reporting requirements of the new laws in some way, particularly in relation to the scope 3 emissions (that is, the emissions that come from the supply chain) that are required to be reported. This will likely require much more contractual reporting of data to our clients and customers about our own energy use and emissions. For a quick summary of the changes, please check out Gabrielle’s article and resources (including a 5-Step Strategy for Compliance Action), developed by Guthrie Legal in collaboration with the Climate Team at Senversa.
The latest Environment Express Article on climate-related financial disclosure | Guthrie Legal.
