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Brought to you by our expert panel comprised of Dentons Partner Michelle Segaert (Sydney), Mosaic Partner Tracey Berry, and Mosaic Principal Consultant Mathieu Hemery, this webinar provided a 2025 update on climate-related disclosure (CRD) requirements in the Australian and New Zealand regimes and offered practical guidance on building robust compliance frameworks and effective transition planning.
The session focused on the lessons New Zealand has learned as the first country to mandate climate reporting, and how these insights can help Australian organisations prepare for their own obligations.
New Zealand’s CRD regime, in effect since January 2023, applies to major financial market participants and has now entered its third reporting cycle. The framework is principles-based and allows flexibility in areas such as scenario analysis and risk identification, and it continues to evolve in response to industry feedback. Current refinements under consultation include adjustments to thresholds and director liabilities, signalling a shift toward a more mature and practical approach. In contrast, Australia’s framework will be more prescriptive, aligned to international ISSB standards and will capture a wider range of entities across sectors.
A key message from the panel was the importance of leadership engagement. Many New Zealand organisations underestimated the complexity of climate reporting, often delegating responsibility without securing board-level understanding or commitment. Successful implementation requires climate considerations to be embedded across governance, risk management, and strategy – supported by clear ownership, ongoing education, and recognition of both transition and physical risks. When organisations approach CRD in this way, they not only meet compliance requirements but also unlock opportunities for innovation, resilience, and investor confidence.
The panel discussed specifically about concepts of GHG metrics and vulnerability to physical and transition risk, and how to approach them as an asset manager or owner. Understanding the basics is essential to build capability before considering third party systems and data providers offerings. Investment managers have typically their emissions coming from financed emissions, which require a different approach for setting net zero targets.
Appropriate discipline for managing the obligations related to the reporting requirements can be adopted through an obligations’ framework and checklist, as well as understanding well the due diligence required, which includes the assurance requirements from the Australian regimes. A very important note is that while the regime has an initial phase with modified liability, this should not be understood as a no liability regime.
