Library | ESG issues
Systemic Risk Management
Systemic risk refers to the possibility that an event at the company level could trigger severe instability or collapse in an entire industry or economy. It extends beyond individual failures, encompassing large-scale threats such as climate change, natural disasters, inflation, geopolitical crises, and pandemics. Effective systemic risk management requires proactive monitoring, regulatory safeguards, and resilience strategies to mitigate risks and ensure financial stability in an increasingly complex and uncertain global landscape.
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Preparing for next-generation information warfare with generative AI
The report analyses how generative AI reshapes information warfare by enabling scalable manipulation, behavioural influence and dual-use knowledge diffusion. It highlights heightened risks to civilians, military operations and international law, stressing gaps in protection and the need for anticipatory, whole-of-society resilience strategies.
AI governance behind the scenes: Emerging practices for AI impact assessments
The report outlines emerging organisational practices for AI impact assessments, highlighting common process steps, information gathering challenges, evolving risk-assessment methods, and difficulties evaluating mitigation effectiveness. It notes increasing cross-functional governance, reliance on third-party transparency, and the need for stronger metrics, education, and executive support.
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC): Partnering with survivor support organisations to increase financial access
This case study explains how the Royal Bank of Canada piloted and expanded a financial access programme for survivors of human trafficking, using a risk based approach to customer identification and verification. It shows how regulated banks can advance financial inclusion while meeting compliance requirements through partnerships with support organisations.
Scotiabank: Partnering with survivor support organisations to increase financial access
This case study shows how Scotiabank partnered with survivor support organisations to improve financial access for modern slavery survivors. By piloting a simplified, risk-based customer due diligence approach, the bank balanced regulatory compliance with social inclusion, demonstrating a practical model for inclusive banking within existing know-your-customer (KYC) frameworks.
Briefing paper: The fiduciary duty case for climate justice
The report argues that climate justice is integral to fiduciary duty, as climate and inequality risks threaten long-term value. It outlines definitions, system-level investment frameworks, and practical tools that help investors manage systemic risks and support a just low-carbon transition.
The Other Half of the Transition: Why Livestock Deserves as Much Attention as Energy
This article highlights the major climate impact of livestock and explains why the absence of clear roadmaps, metrics, and financing strategies has left the sector far behind the energy transition. It proposes policy reforms, mitigation hierarchies, and justice-centered pathways to unlock effective and equitable change.
Planetary solvency – finding our balance with nature
This report outlines how climate and nature risks threaten the Earth system that underpins economies and societies. It proposes a Planetary Solvency framework, using risk-led assessment principles to inform policymakers of escalating systemic risks, tipping points and mitigation needs, emphasising the urgency of realistic global risk management to avoid severe disruption.
Sustainable Finance Roundup November 2025: Transition Turning Points and Rising Accountability
This month’s sustainable-finance roundup highlights faster transition momentum, rising physical risks and a tightening focus on accountability. COP30 reinforced expectations for stronger 2035 targets, while national actions underscored diverging paths toward decarbonisation. Markets continued shifting toward clean energy and resilience, and new science made climate harms more visible. With regulatory scrutiny and litigation increasing, transition credibility and real-economy resilience are becoming core drivers of financial risk and investment decisions.
The investor climate policy engagement paradox
The article explores the paradox in which institutional investors focus heavily on climate-risk disclosure, an area of comfort and perceived legitimacy, while underinvesting in real-economy climate policy that could meaningfully reduce systemic risk. It argues that meaningful climate action requires shifting from technocratic “managing tons” approaches toward politically challenging asset revaluation and more robust policy engagement.
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.
Assessing the materiality of nature-related financial risks for the UK
The report, Assessing the Materiality of Nature-Related Financial Risks for the UK (April 2024), quantifies how biodiversity loss and environmental degradation could materially affect the UK economy and finance sector. It finds nature-related risks—especially from water scarcity, soil decline, and biodiversity loss—could reduce GDP by up to 12% by the 2030s, exceeding impacts from the Global Financial Crisis or COVID-19.
The architecture of power: Patterns of disruption and stability in the global ownership network
This report summarises global corporate ownership networks from 2007 to 2012, introducing an Influence Index to measure shareholder power. It finds increasing concentration among major institutional investors, particularly passive funds, forming a resilient super-entity that centralises corporate control and poses implications for competition and financial stability.
KPMG Australia
KPMG Australia (KPMG) is a professional services firm delivering audit, tax and advisory solutions across sectors including government, mid-market, and private business in Australia. With over 10,000 people and more than 600 partners, KPMG combines integrity-led service with digital-driven expertise in strategy, consulting and risk management.
Sustainable Finance Roundup September 2025: Policy, Markets, and Momentum
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.
The Real Tragedy of the Horizon
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.