The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) welcomes the opportunity to make 8 key recommendations on Treasury’s Consultation Paper on climate-related financial disclosure.
It is critical that alignment with the 1.5℃ temperature goal of the Paris Agreement and Australia’s legislated net zero emissions by 2050 target is central to the design of a mandatory climate-related disclosure framework. Australia needs to be at the forefront of addressing climate change.
As part of a national community legal centre specialising in public interest environmental law, the work of the EDO Safe Climate (Corporate and Commercial) lawyers includes highlighting cases where an organisation’s net zero or emissions reduction plans contradict the organisation’s actual business practices. We are concerned by the prevalence of transition plans that are not aligned with the scientific consensus of what is required to achieve the Paris Agreement’s 1.5℃ temperature goal, and consider this is a key deficiency that the mandatory climate-related disclosure framework should seek to rectify.
