Terence Jeyaretnam’s October review captures a pivotal month for climate and sustainability policy, as physical and transition risks increasingly converge. Australia set a 2035 emissions target of 62–70% below 2005 levels, approved the North West Shelf LNG extension amid EPBC reform debates, and saw AEMO reinforce the execution risk tied to timely clean-energy investment. Updates to the Safeguard Mechanism and the landmark Climate Risk Series report further clarified corporate reporting and compliance obligations. Globally, California’s new disclosure regime named over 4,000 affected companies, the EU upheld gas and nuclear as “green,” and scientists warned of AMOC tipping risks against a backdrop of record coal use and sustained global heat. Jeyaretnam’s analysis highlights how policy, legal, and data frameworks are rapidly institutionalising climate accountability, signalling the centrality of credible transition plans, verified disclosures, and integrated risk governance to financial and strategic resilience.
Sustainable Finance Roundup October 2025: Carbon Markets, Targets, and the Cost of Resilience
This month’s sustainability roundup traces a rapidly evolving landscape in climate finance and accountability, spotlighting the weaknesses exposed by Hurricane Melissa’s disaster-risk finance system alongside new policy frameworks now reshaping sustainable investment. It highlights how vulnerable nations continue to bear the costs of climate impacts, how regulatory reforms such as Australia’s 2035 emissions target and global disclosure regimes are embedding accountability, and how renewed scrutiny of carbon markets is driving the search for credible, incentive-based pathways to real decarbonisation.
Each month, we gather standout sustainable finance articles from our favourite writers. This curated selection brings together the most engaging ideas, timely analyses, and fresh perspectives published over the past month, so you can catch up on what mattered most.
Photo by Alexey Demidov on Unsplash
Lessons on Climate Risk Finance After Hurricane Melissa
By Lisa Sachs
Lisa Sachs’ commentary on Hurricane Melissa exposes how Jamaica’s sophisticated disaster-risk financing “stack”, which includes a reserve fund, contingent credit lines, parametric insurance through CCRIF, and a US$150 million catastrophe bond, fails to deliver real protection when catastrophe strikes. Despite appearing comprehensive, these instruments often underperform: parametric triggers miss payouts due to basis risk, credit lines deepen debt, and total coverage covers only a small share of losses running into the billions. Sachs argues that such mechanisms entrench inequity, as climate-vulnerable nations like Jamaica pay high premiums for inadequate relief while investors profit when bonds go untriggered. For sustainable finance professionals, Sachs’ analysis underscores the urgent need to rethink climate risk finance, shifting from debt-based or investor-enriching tools toward grant-based transfers, affordable sovereign borrowing, and above all, deep global emissions cuts to reduce escalating physical risks that financial products alone cannot contain.
Follow the Money. A Few Thoughts on Sustainability
By Simon Rebbechi
Simon Rebbechi’s piece offers a sweeping and candid assessment of current developments in climate and sustainable finance, anchored by renewed scrutiny of carbon markets. Following revelations that most credits from Zimbabwe’s Kariba project were ineffective, Rebbechi highlights long-standing flaws in the voluntary carbon market, such as verification gaps, double counting, and unclear purpose, despite ongoing reforms by initiatives such as the VCMI, ICVCM, and revisions to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. While recent research questions whether offsets are even “fixable,” he notes that the ecosystem persists due to lack of alternatives and the promise of new UN-backed carbon market rules under COP30, which could link voluntary credits with regulated systems like the EU ETS and channel capital to the Global South. The piece underscores the growing convergence of carbon accounting, financial regulation, and real capital flows, thus highlighting for sustainable finance professionals that financial incentives, rather than carbon ledgers, will ultimately drive behaviour. Rebbechi also touches on the broader decarbonisation landscape, including shipping’s integration into the EU ETS, PwC’s 2024 report showing climate alignment tied to corporate profitability, and the tension between political headwinds and enduring market-driven climate action.
Relevant library resources
Oxford principles for net zero aligned carbon offsetting
Integrity matters: Net zero commitments by businesses, financial institutions, cities and regions
The growth of Australia's LNG industry and the decline in greenhouse gas emission standards: Increased emissions have offset any gains from renewables' rise in electricity generation
Clean Energy Council's clean energy Australia reports
Adaptation, loss and damage: A global climate impact fund for climate justice
