ISO's net zero standard: Five things you need to know

So I guess in recent years, we have seen a really significant increase in expectation placed on organisations in terms of how they communicate their transition plans and their climate strategies to market.

And we've seen that most prominently through regulatory change in the establishment of mandatory disclosure in Australia.

but also increasing scrutiny of greenwashing in Australia and internationally.

So in the Australian context, there's been significant climate litigation launched against major corporates such as Energy Australia and Santos, as well as increased regulatory action from regulators such as ASIC on responsible and sustainable investments.

And what that really speaks to is that investors, regulators and consumers want to be able to actually look under the bonnet and understand the credibility and integrity of an organization's future plans in terms of how they're approaching organizational net zero and how they actually plan to get there.

So the development of this standard is quite significant because it speaks to a corresponding development in the maturity of net zero governance instruments, which can actually support good practice.

And so for years, we have had standards set as telling companies that caring about climate is going to get simpler and easier.

And now we're actually seeing that come to fruition finally.

So the landscape on net zero standards is converging and companies now have an operational blueprint, which enables them to move forward and actually guide some of that strategic planning and some of those claims that they may want to make to market in a credible way.

So transition planning is the critical interface here.

And in the process, it was quite apparent that there was a real commitment to interoperability in the way that the International Working Group worked through the development of the standard so that this standard becomes a complement to the kind of things you might expect in the financial sector through that work of the IASB, through the climate reporting, sustainability reporting.

Which we've obviously now got in Australia through the AASBS2 standard.

That's right.

Yep.

Which includes climate risks and opportunities in addition to your carbon climate targets.

That's right.

And so there's a real recognition in the standard of that landscape and that expectation.

Mm-hmm.

And it really brings some of that to life in a real economy sense of the kind of things that a company should be working through and the kind of trade-offs that are at play and the kind of things that should be prioritized and the time horizon to do those things.

So that comes through in the sort of target setting piece, the development of the plans, but also the actions, right?

So I guess in recent years, we have seen a really significant increase in expectation placed on organisations in terms of how they communicate their transition plans and their climate strategies to market.

And we've seen that most prominently through regulatory change in the establishment of mandatory disclosure in Australia.

but also increasing scrutiny of greenwashing in Australia and internationally.

So in the Australian context, there's been significant climate litigation launched against major corporates such as Energy Australia and Santos, as well as increased regulatory action from regulators such as ASIC on responsible and sustainable investments.

And what that really speaks to is that investors, regulators and consumers want to be able to actually look under the bonnet and understand the credibility and integrity of an organization's future plans in terms of how they're approaching organizational net zero and how they actually plan to get there.

So the development of this standard is quite significant because it speaks to a corresponding development in the maturity of net zero governance instruments, which can actually support good practice.

And so for years, we have had standards set as telling companies that caring about climate is going to get simpler and easier.

And now we're actually seeing that come to fruition finally.

So the landscape on net zero standards is converging and companies now have an operational blueprint, which enables them to move forward and actually guide some of that strategic planning and some of those claims that they may want to make to market in a credible way.

So transition planning is the critical interface here.

And in the process, it was quite apparent that there was a real commitment to interoperability in the way that the International Working Group worked through the development of the standard so that this standard becomes a complement to the kind of things you might expect in the financial sector through that work of the IASB, through the climate reporting, sustainability reporting.

Which we've obviously now got in Australia through the AASBS2 standard.

That's right.

Yep.

Which includes climate risks and opportunities in addition to your carbon climate targets.

That's right.

And so there's a real recognition in the standard of that landscape and that expectation.

Mm-hmm.

And it really brings some of that to life in a real economy sense of the kind of things that a company should be working through and the kind of trade-offs that are at play and the kind of things that should be prioritized and the time horizon to do those things.

So that comes through in the sort of target setting piece, the development of the plans, but also the actions, right?