News & Views

98% of CEOs believe it is their role to make their businesses more sustainable, but 58% see sustainability locked in conflict with growth. Sustainability is a growing force for change, but it is often met by headwinds that create a perception that sustainability inhibits profitability. Building a sustainable business requires slow evolution, not revolution, and the case for 'business as usual' may prove more costly.

See a great research report from Accenture HERE.

Supply chain emissions represent the largest source of emissions from companies - and on average are 11.4 times larger than direct emissions. The SBTi has released new guidelines and in order for companies to be in line with this criteria, they must set scope 3 targets - that is, supplier engagement targets and/or reduction targets that collectively cover at least 67% of total scope 3 emissions. The SBTi guide to achieving scope 3 supplier engagement targets includes a full set of materials and resources for companies to use when engaging their suppliers around science-based targets and can be found HERE.

In a recent report released by Kincentric, it was revealed that teams that are working in an inclusive environment are four times more likely to navigate tough issues and twice as likely to stay with their employer. Kincentric says that inclusion cannot be ignored, and being a part of an inclusive workplace made 80 per cent of employees feel like they belong, and 87 per cent recorded higher engagement. See the lead story about this from HR Leader HERE.

The consideration of planetary boundaries and biodiversity is new to most companies and public awareness of this has only recently become mainstream following COP15 in 2022. Only now is it starting to be incorporated into non-financial reporting frameworks. Given there is still no consensus on biodiversity-related terminology, with methodologies and regulations rapidly evolving to standardise these concepts, how difficult is it to quantify a companies biodiversity footprint and its impact on ecosystems?. See an article HERE from Ecoact, which might help.

ESG Book, a global leader in sustainability data and technology, recently released new analysis showing that global ESG regulations have increased by 155 percent over the past decade, as the rapid growth of sustainability-based policy interventions continues to shape markets. The latest analysis is taken from the Reporting Exchange, ESG Book's solution that provides access to real-time ESG reporting requirements, covering more than 100 subjects across environmental, social, and governance dimensions for over 100 sectors, with the majority of ESG regulations spread across themes including climate, human rights, biodiversity, and diversity and inclusion. See an article from Mondovisione HERE

Following significant expansion of its benefits for its employees, AusLSA member firm Gilchrist Connell, has achieved recognition as a Family Inclusive Workplace by Family Friendly Workplaces.

The firm recognises that work forms only part of their employees’ life and in September 2022, overhauled their suite of family friendly policies which can be accessed by all employees regardless of gender. 

See a summary of the policies and the release HERE

As the world fails to curb the rise of polluting emissions, most scientists see some form of carbon removal as necessary to limit the impact of climate change.

The UN, however issue a word of caution in that such solutions are “technologically and economically unproven, especially at scale, and pose unknown environmental and social risks” and conclude that these technologies are not suitable for offsetting carbon emissions under the upcoming UN’s global scheme. An interesting article about this debate is HERE.

AusLSA member firm Clyde & Co have designed and implemented a ‘globally consistent’, improved offering to provide better, more effective support to employees who were about to become parents.The parental leave benefits are available to all employees and partners across the firm regardless of jurisdiction who have at least 12 months’ service behind them. They state that designing a new and inclusive parental leave was “an important means” of improving gender diversity – especially at the senior level, where law firms have historically struggled to bridge the gender pay gap and fill in with more female lawyers. Read more about this in Australasian Lawyer HERE.

In December 2022, Institutions in the EU broadly agreed to implement a 'carbon border adjustment mechanism' (CBAM), to ensure that imports into the UK did not escape the carbon pricing regulations already in place in the UK.

This would effectively place a tax on carbon imports, by putting a price on emissions associated with the production of certain goods that enter the UK. While not an issue for Australia at present, something that we need to keep an eye on!. See an analysis of this from Ecoact HERE. 

We all belong to a family, and at some point in time, we will all be in a position to provide Care to someone in our family.  Carer Gateway says that there are about 2.65 million carers in Australia - around one in every nine, and according to Emma Walsh, founder of Family Friendly Workplaces and the chief executive of Parents at Work, organisations need caring policies to be formalised and properly communicated to all staff. See an article about this from HR Leader HERE, including a podcast from Emma.