Library | ESG issues
Governance
The governance pillar in ESG (environmental, social, and governance) refers to the systems, policies, and practices that ensure an organisation is managed responsibly and ethically. It includes issues such as board structure, reporting & disclosures, shareholders & voting, and risk management. Strong governance reduces risks, enhances trust, and supports long-term business sustainability.
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The new climate denial: How social media platforms and content producers profit by spreading new forms of climate denial
Climate denial on YouTube has shifted from rejecting global heating to undermining climate impacts, solutions, and science. New Denial now represents most claims, while Old Denial has declined. The report highlights platform monetisation of such content and calls for updated policies and stronger action to address evolving misinformation.
Redefining progress: Global lessons for an Australian approach to wellbeing
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.
Net zero carbon buildings in cities: Interdependencies between policy and finance
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)
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.
Closing the Gap: The evolution of climate transition finance in China
China’s transition finance market is expanding to support the decarbonisation of high-emitting industries. The report outlines growth in green and sustainability-linked bonds, emerging transition frameworks, and ongoing debates on coal and gas inclusion, highlighting the need for clearer standards and broader financing tools to meet China’s 2060 climate goals.
Responsible Investment: Australian perspectives on Private Equity practices
This report outlines how Australian private equity firms are integrating ESG across the investment cycle in response to mandatory climate reporting, taxonomy alignment, and stakeholder expectations. It highlights evolving screening, due diligence, ownership, and exit practices, and shows how ESG integration can support value creation and strengthen competitive positioning.
Access bank: Driving inclusive growth through responsible banking
This case study explores how Access Bank integrates the UN Principles for Responsible Banking into its operations, advancing green finance, financial inclusion, and gender equality. It highlights the bank’s green bond issuances, ESG frameworks, and stakeholder engagement, offering investors insight into sustainable finance practices within emerging markets.
The pollution premium
The report “The Pollution Premium” analyses how industrial pollution influences asset pricing. Using U.S. firms’ toxic emission data (1991–2016), it finds that companies with higher emission intensity earn around 4.4% higher annual returns than their low-emission peers, even after accounting for known risk factors. The study introduces environmental policy uncertainty as a new systematic risk, showing that firms more exposed to potential regulatory tightening demand higher expected returns as compensation.
A systems approach to sustainable finance: Actors, influence mechanisms, and potentially virtuous cycles of sustainability
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.
Circular economy for investors and lenders series
This series explores how investors and lenders can integrate circular economy principles into financial decision-making. It outlines practical tools and frameworks for assessing risks and opportunities linked to circularity, helping finance professionals align portfolios with sustainability objectives while supporting Australia’s transition to a regenerative, low-waste economy.
The Silicon Six and their enduring global tax gap
This Fair Tax Foundation report analyses the decade-long tax conduct of six major technology firms—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and Netflix. It finds a persistent global tax gap, with an average effective tax rate of 18.8% versus global norms of 27%. The report urges stronger transparency and fairer international tax reform.
Value chain collaboration: Unlocking circular markets in Australia
This report by Circular Australia and Arup identifies opportunities to build circular markets across five key Australian value chains—lithium batteries, PET bottles, green steel, low-carbon concrete, and textiles. It outlines current barriers, future pathways, and policy recommendations to improve resource efficiency, reduce emissions, and strengthen national economic resilience.
Cost and financing for a future free from plastic leakage: Policy highlights
The report summarises the costs and financing required to eliminate global plastic leakage by 2060. It finds that coordinated global action could nearly eradicate leakage, with modest global GDP impacts but higher costs for developing economies. Increased development finance and private-sector mobilisation are essential to achieving this goal.
Equileap
Equileap is a global leader in workplace equality research offering a comprehensive database of over 6,000 companies’ gender, race/ethnicity and LGBTQ+ diversity metrics. It supports asset managers and pension funds in integrating equality into investment decisions and building sustainable portfolios aligned with social-impact and ESG criteria.
What We Know About Deep-Sea Mining — and What We Don’t
This article explores the growing interest in deep-sea mining as a source of critical minerals for clean technologies, detailing how it works, its potential economic benefits, and the significant ecological and governance risks it poses. It also examines ongoing international regulatory disputes and alternative solutions such as recycling and circular mineral economies.
Activating place-based circular economy in Australia: Circular precincts
The report by Circular Australia and Aurecon outlines how place-based circular precincts can drive Australia’s transition to a circular economy by 2030. It presents frameworks, principles, and policy recommendations for governments, industry, and investors to create sustainable, resource-efficient, and collaborative precincts that support economic, environmental, and social outcomes.