News & Views

The ASX200 notes that net zero pledges from their members are increasing - 61% of the ASX200 (121 entities) have publicly committed to net zero - up from 48% the year before.

Many companies, however are not reporting Scope 3 emissions, and given that the Australian government plans to make climate disclosure mandatory from 2024-2025, those companies not reporting scope 3 emissions will need to detail how they will transition their operations to get to net zero. See an analysis from FS Sustainability HERE.

Australia is the only first world nation with a colonial history that does not recognise its First Nations people in the constitution, and corporates that support the Voice do so with ESG increasingly at front of mind.

They have to, however, balance criticism of potential social-washing and virtue signalling versus corporate responsibility and social license to operate. All corporates have a responsibility to educate themselves, because "misinformation is rife" and "the consequences are crucial".

See a good analysis of the issue from FS Sustainability HERE.

The UN weather agency has confirmed that the global average temperature for July 2023 was the highest on record and likely for at least 120,000 years. The UN World Meteorological Organisation reiterated that there was a 66 per cent chance that the 1.5C threshold above the pre-industrial value will be exceeded in the next five years and will have “dire consequences for both people and the planet creating exposure to ever more frequent and intense extreme events”. See the UN Report HERE.

Despite women outnumbering men in the legal profession, the gender pay gap is still apparent.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), also note that on average, women in Australia are paid less than men, and have to work an additional 56 days to earn the same average pay, which costs the economy $51.8bn every year.

'Equal Pay Day' this year has been calculated by WGEA to be August 25. Find out more about this and how your firm can support Equal Pay Day HERE.

Hosted and calculated by Global Footprint Network, 'Earth Overshoot Day' marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. We maintain this deficit by liquidating stocks of ecological resources and accumulating waste, primarily carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Determining the date relies on some complex calculations, and as you can expect has been reducing for many years. This year's Overshoot date past us on August 2!

This is a very interesting (frightening) concept which is explained in more detail at the Overshoot Day website HERE.

At a webinar hosted by Greenbiz, join sustainability leaders in discussing how to identify and overcome barriers to setting and meeting science-based scope 3 targets.   During the webinar, Pure Strategies will introduce its Scope 3 Maturity Model which helps sustainability teams identify program improvement strategies in measurement, goal setting, alignment, and disclosure.  See the registration link HERE.

GHG emissions from travel are significant and remain difficult to control as 'policy' is often not backed by automated procedure.

In 2021 EY made a public commitment to reach net-zero by 2025, and, as travel represents more than 70% of their emissions, developed an internal tool the 'Sustainable Travel Approval Tool' (STAT) which takes the emphasis away from cost and puts it squarely on emissions. Read the attached case study from Business Travel News HERE to see how EY are ensuring the proof is in the pudding.

New Zealand has proposed the implementation of Modern Slavery legislation in what is seen as an excellent first step in taking action to fight modern slavery and worker exploitation in supply chains.

Based on legislation from Australia and the UK, the NZ implementation will be stronger as it will include financial penalties for non-compliance and a lower threshold for reporting. See a summary from international Human Rights Group WalkFree HERE.

The UN Environment Program (UNEP), have released their Global Climate Litigation Report: 2023 Status Review, and note that the total number of climate change court cases has more than doubled since 2017. The report is based on a review of cases focused on climate change law, policy or science collected up to 31 December 2022 by the Sabin Center’s US and Global Climate Change Litigation Databases. Read a summary of the review HERE, as well as a selection of  some historic breakthroughs during the past two years.

As businesses continue to place greater importance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, paving the way for areas like renewable energy are going to expand - an area of already massive growth in the legal profession.This is an area of law that is only going to expand and as more organisations put ESG on their agenda it is likely to be here to stay.

See what several AusLSA firm members have to say about how Renewables "law" is affecting their firms in the Lawyers Weekly article HERE.