During the week of 15 September 2025, the Australian Government released multiple reports that are highly relevant for entities preparing for mandatory climate-related disclosures under the Corporations Act 2001 and AASB S2, including:
- Climate adaptation – the release of Australia’s National Climate Risk Assessment (NCRA) and National Adaptation Plan (NAP) focus on identifying and building adaptive capacity in the face of escalating national physical climate risks and a rapidly changing climate; and
- Climate mitigation – the announcement of Australia’s new 2035 emissions reduction target and Net Zero Plan (NZP) focus on climate mitigation targets, strategies and funding aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Definitions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Climate adaptation: “In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, adaptation is the process of adjustment to actual climate and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects.”
Climate mitigation: “A human intervention to reduce the sources of, or enhance the sinks for, greenhouse gases in an effort to lessen or minimise the adverse impacts of climate change.”
These releases offer authoritative, publicly available sources of information for sustainability reporting disclosure preparers, and may inform multiple aspects of an entity’s disclosures, including climate-related risk and opportunity identification, climate scenario analysis, and strategic planning.
Highlights of the releases:
- The National Climate Risk Assessment: The NCRA identifies 63 nationally significant climate risks and 11 priority risks across 7 key functional systems, providing a national benchmark for risk identification and adaptation planning.
- The National Adaptation Plan: The NAP outlines how Australian Government policy will collectively facilitate climate adaptation actions, including identifying priorities and actions in response to the risks identified by the NCRA.
- 2035 Emissions Reduction target & Net Zero Plan: Australia’s new 2035 target commits to a 62–70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels. The pathway to meeting this target is supported by a comprehensive Net Zero Plan and 6 sectoral decarbonisation strategies.
We have also published more in-depth alerts:
Impact for entities subject to mandatory climate-related reporting
AASB S2 requires an entity to consider all reasonable and supportable information available to the entity at reporting date without undue cost or effort when identifying its climate-related risks and opportunities. As publicly available documents, these all constitute information that is available to entities at reporting date without undue cost or effort. Entities will therefore need to consider the impact of these releases on their preparation for reporting.
Further information
Grant Thornton has a team of sustainability reporting specialists who understand the intricacies of the sustainability reporting requirements. Our team can work closely with you to navigate through the process of getting ready for sustainability reporting.
If you would like to learn more, please reach out to one of our sustainability reporting specialists.
