This benchmark series outlines key legal, operational, and investment considerations shaping ESG and the sustainable economy. It provides structured guidance for investors, operators, and policymakers on evolving practices, regulatory expectations, and sector-level developments, offering a consistent foundation for understanding how sustainability themes influence financial and organisational decision-making.

K&L Gates is a global law firm offering a full spectrum of legal services — from corporate and finance to energy, intellectual property and regulatory advice. With more than 45 offices across five continents, it serves multinational corporations, growth companies and public-sector clients alike.

Global Rights Compliance (GRC) is an international legal foundation founded in 2013 that applies international humanitarian and human-rights law to advance accountability and justice. GRC works globally in conflict-affected and high-risk zones — offering legal advice, human rights due diligence, investigations and training for governments, businesses and civil society.

This report outlines a blueprint for responsible banking, detailing how banks can embed climate, nature, human rights, and inclusive economy considerations into strategy, governance, client engagement, capital allocation and disclosure. It provides guidance on setting and implementing targets to align portfolios and practices with global sustainability frameworks.

FreshExplorer is an interactive mapping tool that displays data on water, sanitation, and hygiene services globally, assisting policymakers and researchers to view coverage statistics, trends, and service gaps. The platform enables data exploration by country, service type, and time period, using Aus/UK spelling and grammar conventions.

Our World in Data is a free, open-access research platform maintained by the UK-based non-profit Global Change Data Lab that collates, visualises and publishes global long-term data on topics such as health, economy, environment and development.

The report outlines how industrial goods companies are advancing circular economy practices through product design, life-extension initiatives, collaboration, policy engagement and transparent reporting. It provides real-world examples across global firms and offers a framework to assess progress, highlighting emerging innovation and the importance of systemic, sector-wide approaches to circularity.

The OECD “Measuring Well-being and Progress” platform offers internationally harmonised indicators, dashboards and methodological guidance to assess societal progress beyond GDP, enabling finance professionals to evaluate economic, social and environmental dimensions in a structured manner.

The report examines rising global food insecurity, driven by conflict, climate impacts, inflation, and supply disruptions. It outlines the economic and social consequences, highlights regional vulnerabilities, and assesses future risks. It also presents social, technological, financial, and geopolitical actions needed to strengthen food system resilience.

The report outlines solutions to curb plastic pollution by improving sustainability information, driving behaviour change, advancing sustainable procurement, and promoting circular economy measures, particularly for plastic packaging. It presents coordinated actions across sectors, including tourism, to reduce plastic use and support systemic, upstream interventions aligned with SDG 12.

The report outlines the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance’s progress in reducing financed emissions, strengthening target-setting, and expanding climate-solution investments. It highlights updated methodologies, increased engagement with companies and policymakers, and rising member participation, underscoring the need for credible transition pathways and supportive policy environments to advance alignment with 1.5°C goals.

A scan of global wellbeing frameworks shows how countries integrate measurement, policymaking and accountability to support long-term social, economic and environmental outcomes. The report outlines lessons for designing an Australian approach that embeds wellbeing across government systems, decision-making and reporting.

This report analyses how cities can decarbonise buildings by mapping the interdependencies between policy and financial instruments and the barriers they address. It highlights priority actions for cooling, embodied carbon, adaptation and a just transition, outlining pathways that help cities sequence measures to accelerate net zero building outcomes.

Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (CCFLA) is a global multi-stakeholder coalition mobilising finance for urban low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure. It supports sub-national governments in developing bankable projects, strengthening enabling environments and closing investment gaps especially in emerging markets and developing economies.

The report develops a machine-learning method to measure firm-level climate change exposure from earnings calls across 34 countries. It identifies opportunity, physical, and regulatory dimensions and shows that these exposures predict green hiring, green patenting, and are reflected in options and equity markets.

This review examines how financial sector structures and actors influence sustainability outcomes through a systems lens. It identifies barriers such as inadequate metrics, poor risk integration, and limited understanding of complex dynamics, while highlighting collaboration opportunities between finance and science to align capital flows with long-term ecological resilience.