Library | ESG issues
Environmental
The environmental pillar in ESG (environmental, social, and governance) assesses an organisation’s impact on the planet. It includes issues such as climate change, biodiversity, waste management and water management. Strong environmental practices help businesses reduce risks, comply with regulations, and drive long-term sustainability.
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Breaking down silos: Navigating the intersection of environmental and social risks for investors
Examines how environmental and social risks interact to create compounding financial impacts for investors. Presents a systems-based framework and agrifood case study illustrating portfolio volatility, credit risk and supply disruptions. Recommends integrated risk assessment, value-chain finance, stewardship and blended finance to strengthen portfolio resilience.
ASRS first year has landed: Here's what we’re seeing in the market
This article examines how Australian organisations are approaching the first year of mandatory ASRS climate disclosures. It highlights common implementation patterns, areas of misallocated effort, and emerging practices that prioritise financially material, decision-useful climate reporting.
The EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems
This report assesses how transforming global food systems can improve health, sustainability, and equity. It updates evidence on the planetary health diet, quantifies food systems’ pressures on planetary boundaries, and analyses justice in food access and production, recommending coordinated policy, dietary shifts, and sustainable agricultural practices to support healthy diets within environmental limits.
A method to identify positive tipping points to accelerate low-carbon transitions and actions to trigger them
The report proposes a methodology to identify “positive tipping points” that can accelerate low-carbon transitions. It outlines a framework to assess their likelihood, drivers and proximity, and identifies actions that could trigger self-reinforcing decarbonisation processes to help achieve Paris Agreement climate goals.
Science in the courtroom: Evidentiary needs in climate litigation
This guide outlines how climate science evidence is used in climate litigation. It explains evidentiary standards, types of scientific evidence and litigation strategies, and provides guidance for courts and litigants on presenting and assessing climate science to support legal claims related to climate change impacts and responsibility.
Emissions Gap Report: Off Target – Continued Collective Inaction Puts Global Temperature Goal at Risk
UNEP's annual assessment of the gap between countries' climate pledges and emission reductions needed to meet the Paris Agreement's temperature goals, with 2025 focus on new NDCs and 2035 targets.
Climate-related risks and opportunities and the disclosure of material information
This educational material explains how entities apply AASB S2 to identify and disclose material information on climate-related risks and opportunities affecting cash flows, access to finance and cost of capital. It outlines concepts such as value chains, dependencies and impacts, and provides a four-step process for assessing and reporting material climate-related information.
The slow forces behind this year’s fast crises
The article argues that today’s rapid global crises (political, ecological, and social) are the visible outcomes of long-building systemic pressures. Using complexity science and systemic risk analysis, it highlights how understanding these deep drivers can help societies both anticipate crises and accelerate positive, transformative change.
Mandatory Climate Reporting in Australia: A Practical Guide for 2026
Australia’s mandatory climate reporting regime began implementation from 2025, aligned with ISSB IFRS S2 standards. This guide explains regulatory expectations, governance responsibilities, emissions data requirements and practical steps organisations should take in 2026 to establish compliant climate disclosures, integrate climate risks into financial reporting, and prepare for assurance and regulatory scrutiny.
Investing in nature: Navigating the landscape with Handprint’s nature tech ecosystem map V.4
The report maps the emerging nature-tech ecosystem, grouping participants into frontliners, builders and enablers, and highlights version 4 updates: 62 new organisations and three new categories—paradigm shifters, regulatory and compliance, and payment for ecosystem services.
Singapore-Asia taxonomy for sustainable finance
The report outlines the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance, a science-based classification framework defining green, transition (amber) and ineligible economic activities. It provides technical screening criteria—primarily for climate change mitigation—to guide financial institutions, investors and policymakers in directing capital towards environmentally sustainable and low-carbon transition activities across Singapore and ASEAN.
Kicking away the green ladder: The asymmetric sovereign risk from nature degradation
This working paper analyses how nature and biodiversity degradation affect sovereign borrowing costs. Using panel econometric models across 53 countries (2000–2020), it finds biodiversity loss raises bond yield spreads, with effects up to three times larger for higher-risk, often lower-income countries, indicating asymmetric sovereign risk from nature-related financial vulnerability.
Finance, nature and food systems: Consumers choosing sustainable food systems in Brazil
This report analyses Brazilian food consumption behaviours and tests nudging strategies in online shopping to promote sustainable diets. Findings indicate plant-rich diets, reduced food waste and improved labelling could lower food-system emissions. The study recommends combining consumer nudges, education and policy measures to support sustainable food choices and environmental outcomes.
Disentangling materiality and climate reporting
This article explains how the concept of materiality applies in AASB S2 climate disclosures and why it is often misunderstood. It distinguishes between material information, climate risks, emissions reporting, and ESG double materiality assessments, offering practical guidance for preparing compliant climate reports.
Turning the tide: How to finance a sustainable ocean recovery
This report provides guidance for financial institutions on financing a sustainable blue economy. It outlines principles, sector-specific criteria and case studies to support responsible investment in ocean-related sectors including seafood, ports, maritime transport, marine renewable energy and coastal tourism, aligning finance with ocean protection and long-term economic sustainability.
Net zero roadmap for copper and nickel
This report outlines a roadmap for achieving net-zero emissions in copper and nickel mining by 2050. It analyses demand growth from the energy transition and proposes emissions reductions of ~50% by 2030 and ~90% by 2050 through renewable energy, electrification, efficiency improvements, and limited carbon removal offsets.