By Suzanne Orme 26th July 2025
In this blog I offer insights into my recent development of a new one day training course entitled “Understanding Climate Change Reporting Obligations”.
What inspired the development of this course?
The course was inspired by the new sustainability reporting standards AASB1 and AASB2 that were released at the end of 2024. These go beyond reporting of greenhouse gas emissions data and demand a deep dive into climate risk and opportunities together with what organisations are doing to address them.
We felt the course was needed because many organisations – particularly large ones – have developed the internal capacity for greenhouse and energy data gathering, analysis and reporting. But they lack a clear understanding of the broader climate-related risk and opportunities that can help or hinder their business performance. To do well in our complex and changing world executives need to understand climate as a strategic risk with implications for their products and services, supply chain, financial situation, regulatory compliance and social license to operate.
The course was developed to be suitable for:
- Executive management overseeing the preparation of the organisation’s financial reports
- Managers and consultants involved in the preparation of sustainability reports
- QHSE System Managers tasked with integrating climate-related risk management into the organisation’s management system(s).
Why is it important for organisations to understand their climate change reporting obligations now?
The new standards form the basis of legislation that commenced on 1st January 2025. Company executives need to know if they are captured by the legislative change and if so, how to get their organisation ready.
There is a significant increase in reporting requirements from the previous sustainability reporting standards, to what many Australian companies will need to produce under the standards for Climate-related financial disclosures.
How does climate change reporting relate to net zero and sustainability reporting for businesses?
Direct greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1) and energy indirect emissions (Scope 2) have always been a key feature of sustainability reporting. But the new reporting obligations greatly expand the range and depth of information required to be collected and disclosed. It’s going to be a challenge to calculate indirect emissions across the entire value chain (Scope 3), conduct scenario planning and analysis, resilience assessments and transition planning. Even organisations that have been preparing sustainability reports for years may be unprepared.
What will the impact of better reporting be on businesses, our climate and the globe?
The new legislation and standards encourage much greater transparency about an organisation’s climate mitigation efforts. Senior leaders will be motivated to go beyond superficial sustainability initiatives towards genuine, measurable greenhouse gas reduction to protect the world’s climate.
What I hope every participant will takes away from this course.
There a range of takeaways from this course. We have listed the learning outcomes as:
- Explain the new obligations in Australia for Climate-related financial Disclosures in Annual Reports
- List climate-related risks, opportunities and how to integrate these into the organisation’s management system
- Describe best practice guidance for carbon accounting, reporting and verification
- Understand key concepts and the international context for climate change compliance obligations
The one key takeaway I hope every participant leaves with.
A sense of urgency to take steps to bridge the gap between current reporting of emissions and future reporting of climate-related risks and opportunities.
Find out more about the course content, learning outcomes and register to attend via this link to SAI assurance learning.
https://learning.saiassurance.com.au/course/understanding-climate-change-reporting-obligations