This month’s sustainability roundup covers Australia’s new 2035 emissions target, ASIC’s final climate disclosure guidance, and Fortescue’s revised transition plan. It also examines global developments, from ISSB reporting updates and TNFD nature disclosures to Woodside’s gas extension, rising physical climate risks, and evolving ESG policy debates shaping corporate and investor responses.

This report summarises the growth and performance of Australia’s responsible investment market in 2023, with RI assets reaching A$1.6 trillion, or 41% of total managed funds. It highlights strengthened ESG integration, transparency, and stewardship, reflecting increasing investor demand, regulatory developments, and alignment with global sustainability standards.

This report summarises the 2024 benchmarking of New Zealand’s responsible investment market, assessing 70 investment managers using RIAA’s Responsible Investment Scorecard. It finds NZ$207 billion in responsible assets, representing 56% of total funds, and highlights expanding ESG integration, transparency, stewardship, and impact investing alongside strengthened regulation and market maturity.

This report summarises Australians’ growing demand for responsible investment. Conducted by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia, it finds 92% expect their superannuation and investments to align with their values, with many willing to switch providers. Renewable energy, healthcare, sustainable practices, and human rights are leading investment priorities.

The Sustainable Development Report is a benchmark series that tracks global and national progress toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Produced annually by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and partners, it presents the SDG Index and Dashboards, offering comparable data, analysis, and trends for all UN member states.

Mark Carney’s “tragedy of the horizon” warned that markets would act too late on climate risks. A decade later, this article argues that framing climate change as a financial risk has misdirected efforts—what’s needed now is coordinated action to create investable markets, especially in emerging economies.

This paper, “ESG: A Panacea for Market Power?” by Philip Bond and Doron Levit (2024), examines how firms’ social (“S”) ESG policies affect market competition. It finds that moderate ESG actions such as fairer treatment of workers or customers can reduce market power and improve welfare, while overly aggressive policies harm both firms and stakeholders. The authors show that competition in ESG policies among socially minded firms can deliver efficient, welfare-maximising outcomes, linking ESG adoption to market structure, corporate governance models, and executive incentives.

This report by Roots of Impact (2024) reviews eight years of experience implementing Impact-Linked Finance (ILF), a structuring approach that rewards measurable social or environmental outcomes by linking financial terms to impact performance. It outlines ILF’s evolution, design principles, effectiveness benchmarks, and opportunities to scale through collaboration and new impact-linked instruments.

European Finance Association (EFA) is an international non-profit professional body for finance academics and practitioners. EFA brings together over 2,500 members globally. It organises annual conferences, doctoral events, and publishes the peer-reviewed Review of Finance journal.

Oxford University Press (OUP) is a global academic and educational publisher. It operates as a department of the University of Oxford, producing textbooks, scholarly works, English language resources and reference works. OUP emphasises digital innovation, sustainability commitments, and broad international reach in research and education.

The report introduces the concept of Regenerative Good Growth (RGG) as an alternative to extractive GDP-focused models. It argues that economic progress should regenerate five renewable capitals, natural, social, human, cultural, and sustainable physical, while ensuring fairness, engagement, and reduced environmental harm. RGG promotes inclusive, low-carbon, and nature-positive transitions through diverse public participation.

MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) is a Swiss-based publisher of open access, peer-reviewed journals, established in 1996. MDPI publishes over 470 academic journals across science, technology and medicine, with authors covering article processing charges to enable unrestricted global access.

This report summarises over 1,000 studies (2015–2020) and finds that most show a positive relationship between ESG and financial performance. ESG integration and long-term strategies tend to enhance returns and risk management, while disclosure alone has limited financial impact.

Rockefeller Capital Management (RockCo) delivers wealth management, asset management and investment banking services grounded in the Rockefeller legacy. Serving individuals, families and institutions, RockCo emphasises bespoke financial solutions, generational wealth planning and strategic advisory — combining innovation with long-standing trust.

Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI) is a Japanese policy think tank founded in 2001. RIETI conducts theoretical and empirical economic research, bridges academe and government, and offers evidence-based trade, industry and economic policy recommendations.

This report summarises research on US firms’ exposure to temperature variability and its financial effects. It shows that volatile temperatures reduce profitability, affect consumer demand and labour productivity, and influence investor attention. Portfolios exposed to higher variability underperform, indicating temperature volatility is a material climate risk for firms and investors.