ESG Snapshot: Issue 103

This week's highlights include:

• Major environment Bill. A new NSW Bill expands the remit of environment policies, extends director liability provisions, and factors environmental justice principles into sentencing.
• Fast-turnaround. An urgent NSW Bill to facilitate new grid infrastructure has passed Parliament after less than a day of debate.
• Decommissioning test case. The Wilderness Society has gone to the Federal Court alleging NOPSEMA has failed to fulfil its responsibilities.
• Noted. The prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand have "noted" Pacific leadership in securing the International Court of Justice climate change opinion.
• Corporate transition. Climateworks has issued a guide to transition planning, while AGL will next week release its latest transition action plan.
• Clearing data. The latest Queensland land clearing data has prompted new calls for major supermarkets to tackle deforestation in their supply chains.
• Three threats. A new report says support for clean energy projects in regional areas is stronger than many think, but lists three social licence threats.
• 'Time is money'. Queensland's Resources Minister says approvals for new fossil fuel projects are taking too long.

ESG Snapshot - powered by the Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia and curated by ESG communications and content consultancy Earthed.

Consultation opportunity - National Electricity Market review. The Nelson review of the NEM has released its draft report.

An opinion piece by the NEM review panel is available on the Renew Economy site, and the Energy Insiders podcast has a one-hour episode featuring all panel members. Coverage, including a webinar featuring panel members, is also available on The Energy site.

Comments must be submitted by 17 September.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen and Special Envoy for Climate Adaptation and Resilience Kate Thwaites on Friday convened an energy and adaptation roundtable meeting, ahead of the Treasurer's upcoming economic reform summit.

"Participants discussed three connected themes relating to climate risk and adaptation," Minister Bowen said:

• barriers and enablers to effectively manage risks associated with our changing climate.
• incentivising private investment in climate adaptation.
• boosting productivity through climate adaptation.

Court dispute - oil and gas decommissioning. The Wilderness Society has launched Federal Court proceedings against NOPSEMA, alleging it has failed to ensure Santos has financial means to decommission its Reindeer gas field off the coast of Karratha, in Western Australia.

The Wilderness Society alleges that NOPSEMA failed to require Santos to prove that it has the financial means to decommission the gas field infrastructure and remediate damage to the surrounding environment.

A joint statement issued by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon has "recognised that climate change is the single greatest threat to the livelihoods and wellbeing of Pacific peoples".

"Australia and New Zealand are committed to reducing climate impacts and to amplifying Pacific voices," says the statement, issued after the two leaders met in New Zealand.

"In this context, New Zealand strongly supports Australia’s bid to host COP31 in 2026 in partnership with the Pacific. Prime Ministers noted the Pacific's leadership demonstrated through the request for the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on climate change.

The two leaders said they "looked forward to the establishment of the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) and urged further capital pledges".

Albanese and Luxon also "acknowledged the importance of ongoing trans-Tasman collaboration to transition our economies to net zero".

The Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal and Projects JSA have issued a new report on Striking a new deal for renewables in regions, which draws on insights from regional leaders.

"A vocal minority opposing renewables development in new energy regions has captured significant media attention, suggesting a social licence is far from certain," the report says.

"However, a series of studies in 2024 also indicate strong 70% support for renewables development within the wider local community in new energy regions," it says.

"The reason for the energy shift is widely understood and the prospect of new jobs,
local investment and opportunities is attractive to local communities," it says.

"However, for most regional people support for renewables is qualified and there is genuine fear that this change will be imposed in ways that ignore local needs and concerns."

The report identifies three key threats to social licence:

• continuing uncertainty about what will be built and when.
• insufficient attention to local opportunities and risks associated with renewables development.
• limited local agency to shape renewables development.

The National Reconstruction Fund has announced a $50 million equity investment in Liontown Resources, anchoring a $286 million capital raise, to support the ramp-up and underground transition of the Kathleen Valley Lithium Operation. 

Global lithium consumption has tripled since 2016 due to the growth of the EV market, and around 87% of the world's lithium is used for production of EV batteries.

The 2024 Great Barrier Reef mass coral bleaching event was the fifth mass coral bleaching event on the Reef since 2016, says the latest annual summary of coral reef condition from the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

The 2024 event had the largest spatial footprint ever recorded on the Reef, with high to extreme bleaching prevalence observed across all three regions of the Reef.  

ARENA has awarded a $34.5 million grant to support Tindo to scale up the domestic production of solar PV. Tindo is Australia's only manufacturer of solar panels.

The company will use the funds to upgrade its South Australian facility from an annual capacity of 20MW, to 180MW.

ARENA has also awarded a further $11 million to Solquartz, Energus and Stellar for feasibility studies related to the production of polysilicon, ingots and wafers, which are critical components in solar panel manufacturing.

The grants have been awarded under the $1 billion Solar Sunshot Program, which aims to support innovative solar PV manufacturing.

DCCEEW is inviting Expressions of Interest to help design and deliver two components of the First Nations Clean Energy Program - one that will fund pilot projects and another that will develop a clean energy toolkit.

A statutory review of the Energy Industry Jobs Plan (EIJP) is now under way.

The review is being led by Emeritus Professor Roy Green AM, supported by the Net Zero Economy Authority. 

The EIJP was established by Part 5 of the Net Zero Economy Authority Act 2024 (the Act) to support employees impacted by the closure of coal-fired and gas-fired power stations to prepare for, and transition to, new employment opportunities. 

Climateworks has released a Guide to credibility for corporate climate transition plans.

The guide says credible transition plans need to be:

• feasible, and sufficiently ambitious to achieve emissions reductions in line with the Paris Agreement.
• internally consistent, and integrated into the company’s broader strategy.
• comprehensive, well-maintained and verifiable. 

The Smart Energy Council has appointed Nigel Morris to the role of Chief Strategy Officer.

Nigel is a co-host of 'Just Another Solar Podcast', and is head of sales marketing at CATCH Power.

Accounting for Nature has appointed Professor Rachel Standish to its Independent Science Committee.

Professor Standish is ecological restoration and conservation academic at Murdoch University.

Coming up soon on the Track Changes podcast - a chat with His Excellency José Ramos-Horta, President of Timor Leste (one of only two countries that is fossil fuel-dependent and a signatory to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative). Follow Track Changes on Spotify, Apple or YouTube!

Open consultations:

• Hydrogen. DCCEEW is seeking comments on two new regulatory guidance documents for the hydrogen industry - one on hydrogen production, and the other on hydrogen refuelling. Comments are due by 19 August.
• Consumer energy resources. DCCEEW is consulting on two aspects of consumer energy resources. The two aspects are data sharing, and redefining roles for market and power systems operations. Submissions are due by 20 August.
• Sustainable financial products. Treasury has released a paper on policy options for a possible sustainable financial product labelling framework. Comments are due by 29 August.
• Offshore carbon capture and storage. DCCEEW is consulting on three offshore CCS guidance documents. Comments are due by 12 September.

"If we have a look at the last greenfield coal mines in Queensland - Pembroke's Olive Downs - it took 12 years from start to finish," Queensland Resources Minister Dale Last has told an Estimates hearing.

"I am not satisfied with that timeframe. That is too long. Time is money. One of the primary roles of our Resources Cabinet Committee is to look at how we can streamline that approval process. How do we work with our mining companies, our resource companies, to make that a little bit easier?"

"For coal, since becoming Minister I have approved one new mining lease
application and 11 mining lease renewals," Last said.

"There have also been delegated approvals by departmental officers of coal resource authorities, including 16 mineral development licence renewals, one new exploration permit and 82 renewals of exploration permits," he said.

"There are currently 49 coal-mining lease applications being prepared by the department for my consideration in the near future.

"Gas is a good news story in Queensland," the Minister added.

"We have plentiful reserves in that space, and we are working very cooperatively and collaboratively with all of our gas resource companies to bring those online."

The Queensland government has released the latest Queensland Government’s Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) figures.

A Wilderness Society analysis concludes that the land area cleared in Queensland in FY23 (332,015 hectares) is more than ten times larger than the forest areas cleared by palm oil companies in Indonesia in the same year.

The vast majority of the deforestation and land clearing in Queensland was to make way for pasture (86%) and occurred in functioning forest ecosystems estimated to be greater than 15 years old (67%), the analysis says.

The Wilderness Society urged Coles, Woolworths and other companies in the beef supply chain to eliminate the conversion of natural ecosystems – including deforestation – from their supply chains.

Consultation opportunity - timber. The state government on a draft 25-year Future Timber Plan, with comments due by 3 September.

Statutory development - environmental legislation. NSW government Minister Jihad Dib has introduced an Environmental Legislation Amendment Bill, saying it "ensures the EPA can effectively regulate activities that may cause environmental harm and enforce or remedy non-compliances".

The Bill would enable Protection of the Environment Policies, or PEPs, to apply to businesses. PEPs can set environmental standards, goals, protocols and guidelines, but currently they can only apply to public authorities.

"The new approach will increase the effectiveness of PEPs and recognises that PEPs could be more effective if they are able to apply to all entities whose actions affect the environment," Minister Dib said.

"While it is not an offence to fail to comply with a PEP, those instruments allow the EPA to set expectations for environmental standards, drive behavioural change and improve environmental performance across industries."

The Bill also ensures that executive liability provisions are embedded across all environment protection legislation, including the Plastic Reduction and Circular Economy Act 2021, the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001 and the Product Lifecycle Responsibility Act 2025.

These provisions, currently found in the POEO Act and some other environmental legislation, mean that if a company commits an executive liability offence, directors can also be held liable.

The Bill also includes provisions to ensure environmental justice principles - which aim to prevent environmental harm that disproportionately impacts vulnerable or disadvantaged communities - are considered during sentencing under the POEO Act.

Currently, the EPA only takes environmental justice principles into account when deciding whether to commence a prosecution, and they are not a sentencing consideration.

The Bill also formalises the EPA's inclusion of Aboriginal peoples' perspectives and knowledges.

In addition, the Bill creates a new general offence to cover harassment of an EPA officer who exercises, or has previously exercised, functions under environment protection legislation or other relevant legislation, or when an officer is generally administering environment protection legislation.

"This new offence responds to recent incidents of repeated online harassment of EPA officers who have simply undertaken their legislative functions," Minister Dib said.

The Bill will also increase penalties for industrial chemical offences so they match penalties for serious waste offences under the POEO Act, which were doubled in 2024.

In addition it will also increase the transparency of environmental management plans, which aoutline long-term measures for mitigation and monitoring after clean-up or onsite containment of contamination at a site.

Statutory development - grid infrastructure. With the support of the Coalition, the NSW Labor government has steered an urgent Bill through state Parliament to facilitate priority network infrastructure projects.

The Electricity Infrastructure Investment Amendment (Priority Network Projects) Bill 2025 amends the Electricity Infrastructure Investment Act 2020, (EII Act), which coordinates and encourages investment in new electricity generation, storage and network infrastructure.

The EII Act establishes a ministerial directions power, which enables the Minister to fast-track the delivery of Priority Transmission Infrastructure Projects (PTIPs) and renewable energy zone infrastructure, by issuing directions setting out what network operators need to do and by when.

The Bill that was passed last week amends the EII Act to expand the type of grid infrastructure projects that can be classified as priority projects, to include - for example - synchronous condensers and distribution network infrastructure.

To reflect the broader range of projects that can potentially be prioritised, they will now be known as Priority Network Infrastructure Projects (PNIPs).

The Bill also broadens the ministerial directions framework, giving the Minister greater powers and more flexibility to respond to emerging reliability and system security issues.

A key driver for the new Bill is the looming closure of Origin Energy's Eraring coal-fired power station, which is currently forecast to occur in FY28.

The first Minister-directed priority project was the Waratah Super Battery, which recently came partially online, and will be in full operation by the end of the year.

The NSW Bill passed after less than two hours debate in the Legislative Assembly, and less than three hours debate in the Legislative Council.

Linda Scott has been appointed to the Board of the NSW EPA for a five-year term.

Scott currently chairs the Local Government Grants Commission, and industry superannuation fund CareSuper. She also serves as the Deputy Chair of Industry Innovation and Science Australia, and is a director of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI).

Consultation opportunity - acid sulfate soils. The NSW EPA has released a draft Acid Sulfate Soil Resource Recovery Order and Exemption.

Comments are due by 2 September.

Open consultations:

• Climate change. The NSW EPA has released draft Climate Change Licensee Requirements and Mitigation Requirements, designed to ensure licensees reduce their carbon emissions. It has also released draft sector-specific guidance for NSW coal mines. Comments are due by 7 October.

A new Victorian Freight Plan says Victoria is seeking to become the first Australian state to be a sub-national endorser of the global memorandum of understanding for decarbonising freight transport.

The plan also says Ports Victoria will be a partner in the Green and Digital Shipping Corridor (GDSC) initiative, which is operating under the umbrella of the Singapore-Australia Green Economy Agreement.

The South Australian government has welcomed the first retail sales of beef from feedlot cattle fed a seaweed-based supplement that reduces methane emissions.

The Asparagopsis supplement was developed by CH4 Global, which grows the seaweed in tanks on the Eyre Peninsula.

Consultation opportunity - conservation. The South Australian government is consulting on an updated land-based protected and conserved area strategy.

The updated strategy aims to ensure that new additions to the state's reserve system are carefully targeted to enhance biodiversity and improve the long-term sustainability of our environment.

Comments are due by 31 August.

New listings are in blue.

Extreme heat is breaking records around the world, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organisation.

The WMO that July 2025 was the third-warmest July ever recorded, behind those in 2023 and 2024.  

The COP30 Presidency has nominated thematic days for the forthcoming climate summit in Belém.

Australian news items in all issues of ESG Snapshot can be searched by relevant Sustainable Development Goal category. To do this, click on the '17 SDGs' link at the top of this web page, or on any of the SDG keys below.

Click to search via SDG