News & Views

WGEA has announced the date for this year’s Equal Pay Day as 19 August, marking the 50 days into the new financial year that Australian women must work to earn the same, on average, as men did last year.

This year's theme, is "It just doesn't add up" and is a call to action for employers to contribute to improving workplace gender equality by investigating and understanding the environment in their own workplace.

Read the WGEA media release HERE

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the corporate climate action organization, reaffirmed its continued global growth, announcing that the total number of companies with science-based targets increased by 102% during 2023 alone compared to all previous years, fuelled in part by strong growth in Asia. 113% more companies set targets during 2023 than in 2022, according to the SBTi Monitoring Report 2023.

See the press release at the SBTi website HERE.

In an article from Travel Weekly, Lufthansa Group said it is facing "steadily rising additional costs due to regulatory environmental requirements." These include the EU's new 2% blending quota for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from 2025, adjustments to the EU Emissions Trading System and the costs complying with CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation).

Regulations will mandate the use of SAF's in the future and while airlines heavily invest in new aircraft and other measures to make flying more sustainable, these additional costs will no doubt eventually be passed on to the consumer.

See the Travel Weekly article HERE 

The UN Global Compact Network Australia (UNGCNA) 2024 Conference will be held on 30-31 October in Sydney.

This event will present insights from international sustainability leaders to solve the most pressing challenges faced by Australian organisations today.

The event’s program is tailored to the bespoke needs of Australia’s C-Suite and Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs), board members, and emerging and future sustainability leaders. It will equip them with technical and actionable solutions to challenges at the intersection of net zero, nature-positive, human rights and governance.

Find our more about the conference and register HERE 

In an article from Edie, they agree with the findings from KPMG as reported by ESG Today (below) in that almost two-thirds of businesses preparing to report under the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive have major challenges regarding data quality, as well as resources.

While 80% of companies believe the reporting process will further embed sustainability into the business, there is concern that sustainability remains 'siloed' and that the reporting requirements are not totally embraced. 

Read the Edie article HERE.

In a recent survey from KPMG, most large organisations acknowledge that they will soon be required to provide disclosures under one of several sustainability reporting systems over the next two years, however many are not sufficiently prepared to do so.  

Overall readiness is gradually improving, however challenges remain, the most significant being lack of internal resources.

Read about the survey HERE, as reported by ESG Today.

In September 2023, the Government committed to developing a First Nations Economic Partnership with the Coalition of Peaks and other organisations to focus on the strengths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, communities and ACCOs, supporting job creation and translating their knowledge, assets, and rights into sustainable benefits.

During May and June 2024,The Coalition of Peaks want to hear about what would make the biggest difference to close the gap in economic development outcomes.

Find out more and see how you can contribute HERE

In 2024, CDP is making changes to their platform and questionnaire to ensure that data collected drives action.

To ensure CDP collects actionable data, they are scaling environmental data disclosure and strengthening their alignment with relevant frameworks and standards. This year they are combining the three existing questionnaires into one CDP Corporate Questionnaire, so that companies asked to respond across multiple environmental issues can do so in a single place, as well as encouraging a more holistic and balanced disclosure across different environmental issues. 

See the link to the CDP disclosures website HERE

“In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs. We are the meteor. We are not only in danger, we are the danger. But, we are also the solution.” - Antonio Guterres.

5 June was World Environment Day. 

Read the UN Secretary-General's special address on climate action "A Moment of Truth" [as delivered] HERE.

As reported by ESG Today, a recent survey from Deloitte has shown that Sustainability considerations figure highly in the M&A space. The survey suggests that more than 70% of these deals are being abandoned  and many say that they would be willing to pay more for deals with stronger ESG attributes.

See the ESG Today article HERE