ESG Snapshot: Issue 104

This week's highlights include:

• 'Climate first but not only'. Treasury has released draft guidance on climate-related transition planning.
• It's official. VicGrid has released its final transmission plan, providing clarity on where renewable energy zones and transmission lines will be located.
• Repartnering. The bilateral climate partnerships between the federal government and each state and territory will be reviewed and renewed.
• PFAS. About half of NSW's sewage sludge is applied to land, and the state's EPA is proposing new measures to mitigate PFAS contamination risks.
• Caseload. More than three quarters of all new cases raised with the Commissioner for Renewable Energy Infrastructure in 2024 were about Victorian projects.
• Resilience recommendations. A Victorian parliamentary committee inquiry into climate resilience has made 82 recommendations.
• Credits bulk buy and supply. The ACCC has approved Victorian water utilities to jointly generate and buy carbon credits.

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Consultation opportunity - transition planning. Treasury has released draft voluntary guidance on best practices for climate-related transition planning.

"The objective of this guidance is to support organisations to address climate risks and opportunities, and to enhance overall financial market resilience," says the consultation paper.

The guidance is informed by four principles:

• Principle 1: Internationally aligned. "The guidance will encourage organisations to use a comprehensive and internationally aligned approach when preparing and disclosing transition plans."
• Principle 2: Supports domestic decarbonisation and adaptation. "The guidance should help organisations understand how they can leverage Australian policies, contribute to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, and strengthen Australia’s climate resilience through their transition plans."
• Principle 3: Balances ambition and flexibility. The guidance will "encourage high ambition in transition plans while still being flexible and consistent with existing and emerging practices".
• Principle 4: Climate first but not only. The guidance "recognises that organisations might be seeking to pursue other sustainability objectives, such as social and environmental objectives".

Comments are due by 24 September.

A meeting last Friday of the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council has agreed to update the National Energy Transformation Partnerships (NETPs) that the federal government has negotiated with each state and territory.

The NETPs, which are not made public, describe how each signatory will contribute to the decarbonisation of the nation's energy system. The new versions will reflect six strategic priorities, including adaptation and resilience, according to the meeting communique.

Ministers also agreed to publish an updated implementation plan for the national consumer energy resources roadmap.

In addition, the Ministerial Council released an Update to the Trajectory for Low Energy Buildings, which is targeted at residential and commercial buildings. Ministers noted that decisions on implementation would be left to the states and territories. The original version of the Trajectory was released in 2019.

Consultation opportunity - consumer energy resources. Following the meeting of energy and climate ministers, DCCEEW has launched a consultation process on technical standards and a regulatory framework to support the uptake and use of consumer energy resources.

A webinar will be held on 8 September, and comments are due by 14 September.

"We need REZs to be seen as Regional Enhancement Zones - places where benefits are shared and futures are shaped together," according to an opinion piece by Australia's Energy Infrastructure Commissioner, Tony Mahar.

The AEIC has also released its 2024 annual report, which says that it handled 155 cases in 2024 - making it the third busiest year on record.

Of the new cases received by the Commissioner, 77% were from Victoria.

This aligns with "significant growth in the renewables sector and a small number of proposals with high levels of community concern", the report says.

In terms of technologies, wind farm related complaints were the clear area of greatest concern (66% of all new cases nationally), "with half of these attributed to a specific proposal in Victoria", the report says.

Solar farms accounted for 12% of new cases, followed by transmission projects (11%).

"New cases for transmission proposals were lower, but we recognise ongoing strong opposition in certain stretches of some routes and continue to manage some long term cases and concerns," the report says.

During 2024, the Commissioner's Office formally closed 155 distinct cases, after an average of 102 days per case.

"Most cases are resolved at an initial complaint enquiry stage," the report says. "That is, by the Office providing relevant tailored information to empower direct dialogue with project proponents and/or government planning authorities."

The report notes that emerging technologies "such as augmented reality and virtual reality technologies can enhance existing methods for communicating the impacts of new large-scale infrastructure to impacted residents".

"The AEIC is continuing to investigate the utility of these technologies to
support community engagement in Australia," it says.

Equifax Australasia Credit Ratings Pty Ltd (EACR) has been appointed to design, develop, implement and operate a new rating scheme for developers of renewable energy projects.

Consultation opportunity - food security. The federal government has released a discussion paper on food security, and will soon start consultations on a related bioenergy feedstock strategy.

Comments are due by 24 September.

The federal government will deliver three new ACCU methods this year, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, told the Carbon Market Institute's Australasian Emissions Reduction summit last week.

"I won't pretend that carbon markets are at the forefront of the day-to-day lives of most Australians – but maintaining public confidence in these schemes is critical to genuine emissions reduction," the Minister said.

Meanwhile, Laurence Tubiana, a key architect of the 2015 Paris Agreement, and now CEO of the European Climate Foundation, told the summit that "Paris gave us a direction".

"Now we must deliver on it," Tubiana said. "I'm really hoping I will see Australia taking the lead."

Consultation opportunity - annual climate change statement. The Climate Change Authority is seeking input to its 2025 Annual Progress Report, which will be submitted to Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen.

A short issues paper invites questions on issues including the Safeguard Mechanism, and on deploying renewable energy infrastructure.

Comments are due by 1 September.

Consultation opportunity - ACCU method. DCCEEW is developing two new savanna fire ACCU methods, and has released an exposure draft version of one of them, known as the exposure draft savanna sequestration and avoidance method.

A webinar on the exposure draft is scheduled for 3 September.

It will release an exposure draft of the other method - the savanna emissions avoidance method - in October.

For the second consecutive quarter, Australia has seen weaker investment in new renewable energy and storage projects, according to new data from the Clean Energy Council.

Only 615MW ($520 million) of new large-scale solar and no new wind farms reached financial close in the second quarter of 2025, says the Council's latest quarterly investment report.

This is "well short of the pace required to hit Australia’s 2030 renewable energy target, according to new data released today by the industry’s peak body", the Council says.

The report also found that Q2 2025 saw the lowest level of investment in large-scale battery storage since Q3 2023, representing 334 MW of capacity.

However, battery storage generation remains on track to meet and beat deployment levels under the Australian Energy Market Operator's Step Change scenario, with newly committed capacity exceeding 1000MWh for nine consecutive quarters.

ARENA has awarded $9 million to BluVein to trial technology that will allow heavy haulage battery electric mining vehicles to be charged while they are in motion.

In addition, ARENA has provided $14.4 million for two projects in remote First Nations communities in South Australia and the Northern Territory.

ARENA has also provided a $3.6 million grant to Horizon Power to help transition a remote First Nations community in Blackstone (Papulankutja), in Western Australia, from diesel generation to a renewables microgrid.

Food Frontier has released a new report on The case for a national plant protein ingredient industry.

EPBC developments:

• A joint venture between ACE Power and Osaka Gas has made an EPBC referral for its proposed 141MW Forbes solar farm in NSW.
• ACEN Australia has made an EPBC referral for a 440MW /1760MWh battery energy storage system near Emerald, in Queensland.

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.
• National Electricity Market. The Nelson review of the NEM has released its draft report, with submissions due by 17 September.

The Queensland government has announced eight new appointments to government-owned energy corporations - four to CleanCo and four to Stanwell.

The government has also announced Stanwell's acquisition of the Lockyer Energy Project from Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, with Stage 1 including up to 120MW of gas-fired generation and the potential for up to a further 850MW of capacity in Stage 2.

Statutory development - quarries. The Queensland government has gazetted a regulation that allows local governments to extract up to 10,000 tonnes of quarry material annually without having to obtain an environmental authority.

Queensland's new 25-year primary industries blueprint lists "increasing climate variability" as one of the challenges facing the sector.

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

Consultation opportunity - PFAS in biosolids. The NSW EPA is seeking feedback on proposed new rules regarding the application of biosolids to land, which are focused on PFAS testing and reporting.

The proposed changes to the NSW resource recovery order and exemption for the reuse of biosolids include:

• New limits for PFAS and PBDEs. 
• Requirements to monitor and report on PFAS and PBDEs, along with two emerging chemicals of concern, Galaxolide (a synthetic fragrance) and triclosan (an antimicrobial agent).

Around half of all biosolids generated by NSW sewage treatment plants are applied to agricultural land. Comments close on 26 September.

The federal and NSW governments have each provided $5.6 million to support two plastics recycling projects.

iQRenew has been awarded $9.1 million for an infrastructure upgrade at its Kundle Kundle plant on the mid-north coast, enabling the facility to process 10,000 tonnes of soft plastic annually.

In addition, Tamworth Regional Council as been awarded $1.9 million for a plastics recycling facility that will service Tamworth and surrounding local government areas.

AusEnergy Services Ltd has released two publications to help investors and developers engage in long-term planning for NSW's energy transition.

The 2025 Infrastructure Investment Objectives (IIO) Report and the inaugural NSW Generation Investment Outlook (NSW GIO).

Key features of the IIO report include:

• Targeting 16GW of new generation by 2030, exceeding the 12GW minimum objective.
• Targeting 42GWh of new long-duration storage infrastructure by 2034, exceeding the 28GWh minimum objective.
• Running additional, larger tenders for long duration storage infrastructure in 2026 and 2027
• Recommencing NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap tenders for generation infrastructure in the second quarter of 2026.

The NSW GIO analyses the current project pipeline identifying a pipeline of over 50 GW of proposed generation capacity in NSW, including 12.5 GW of projects already with development approval.

However, it also concludes current project lead times won't be fast enough to meet the 16 GW ambition unless roadblocks are addressed.

The NSW government has released disaster adaptation planning guidelines to help with the development of regional Disaster Adaptation Plans.

The NSW Reconstruction Authority is obliged by law to develop the regional plans, in conjunction with councils, communities, and other government agencies.

"Since July 2019, NSW has experienced 111 declared natural disasters, with more than 20,000 homes damaged in 2022 alone," the state government said.

Thirty-five council landfill upgrade projects will share $5.9 million in grants under the Round 5 of the Landfill Consolidation and Environmental Improvement Program. 

Open consultations:

• Climate change. The NSW EPA has released draft Climate Change Licensee Requirements and Mitigation Requirements, and draft sector-specific guidance for NSW coal mines. Comments are due by 7 October.

The state government has released the final version of the Victorian Transmission Plan.

"The plan attempts to minimise the area of Victoria required for renewable energy zones and the new transmission infrastructure needed, while also providing project developers and investors with sufficient opportunity to generate the energy we need," says Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D'Ambrosio in an introduction to the plan.

"Without the plan, we couldn't connect new renewables to the grid, pushing up energy bills, leaving our industry, businesses and homes without secure power, and ultimately costing our economy $9.6 billion," the Minister says.

Key changes from the draft version include:

• expanding renewable energy zone footprints, which in total cover 7.9% of Victoria's land area.
• consolidating two draft zones into a single zone.
• revising cost estimates.

Vicgrid has scheduled webinars for this Wednesday, and next Monday.

The next step will be the release of draft Renewable Energy Zone Orders showing the proposed zones will be made public for at least six weeks.

The final Renewable Energy Zone Orders will be released in late 2025.

VicGrid has also released the Victorian transmission plan final engagement report, and submissions on the draft plan.

The feedback is based on engagement responses including 462 submissions, 65 community and industry events, and more than 100 briefings with local councils, community groups and community members.

Projects located inside declared renewable energy zones will have the opportunity to participate in a competitive application process for allocating access to the grid.

Projects located outside of declared renewable energy zones will be subject to a Grid Impact Assessment and will need to demonstrate that their project won't result in generators within renewable energy zones being "excessively curtailed".

The report of a Victorian parliamentary committee inquiry into climate resilience has made 82 recommendations.

They include a recommendation for a review of the Victoria Planning Provisions to examine climate resilience and adaptation issues are properly considered.

In their minority report, the Liberals and Nationals supported the majority of recommendations, but said all recommendations should be subject to a Regulatory Impact Statement, to assess costs and benefits.

They also recommended that VCAT appeals be allowed for renewable energy projects, and urged the repeal of any legislation allowing forced entry onto private land for transmission work.

In their additional comments, the Greens recommended that the Victorian Government adopts a polluter-pays approach to raise revenue for climate adaptation, including through a levy on coal-fired power stations.

The ACCC has authorised the Victorian Water Industry Association and 15 Victorian water corporations to collectively acquire and/or generate Australian Carbon Credit Units.

The ACCUs will be used by the water corporations to achieve their net-zero obligations. The ACCC says working collectively will result in transaction cost savings and efficiency gains.

The decision will make it easier for the water utilities to establish environmental plantings and plantation forestry projects.

The ACCC - which granted an interim authorisation in early July - has granted authorisation until 1 July 2035.

Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt has rejected an application to reconsider earlier EPBC Act approvals for salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour, which were first granted in 2012.

The Minister also said the federal government would invest $18.3 million in oxygenation technology in the Harbour to help protect the Maugean skate.

The oxygenation program will be delivered by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, in conjunction with the Tasmanian government, the salmon industry, and independent scientific experts.

The Bob Brown Foundation criticised the decision not to review the salmon farming approvals and said it would continue with a proposed Federal Court challenge that aims to force a review of the approval decision.

In response to South Australia's toxic algal bloom, federal Environment Minister Murray Watt has asked the Threatened Species Committee to include South Australian marine life in this year's assessment of species that should be added to the threatened species list.

"Because this is an unprecedented event, it has been very difficult for scientists and the community to understand exactly what the impacts of this event have been on marine life," Watt said.

"And that's the importance of engaging the Threatened Species Council, who are experts in the field, to assess the situation and provide advice to governments and to the community on what the situation is and provide advice on how we can deal with it," the Minister said.

Statutory development - clean energy and minerals. The WA government has introduced the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia Amendment (Clean Energy) Bill 2025, which broadens the Institute's role.

The Bill broadens the Institute's research focus beyond critical minerals to include clean energy and emissions reduction research.

The WA government has announced a new Science and Technology Council, headed by Chief Scientist Sharath Sriram.

Members of the Council include Professor Peta Ashworth of the Curtin Institute for Energy Transition, and Professor Owen Nevin of the WA Biodiversity Science Institute.

New listings are in blue.

AGL has released its latest Climate Transition Action Plan (CTAP) which includes a new target for a 60% reduction by the end of FY35, compared to FY19 levels.

AGL has also boosted its FY30 renewables and firming target to 6GW (up from 5GW), which will encompass at least 3GW of grid-scale batteries.

The CTAP will go to an advisory shareholder vote on 3 October. The company has also released a presentation on its full-year results.

Origin Energy has released its latest CTAP, which shows very significant growth in its Virtual Power Plant.

"Since the release of our 2022 Climate Transition Action Plan our VPP has grown from 258MW across more than 121,000 connected services, to about 1.5GW across 393,000 connected services," the CTAP says.

"Our aim is to increase this to 2GW under management by 2026."

Commenting on Origin's October 2024 exit from the Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub, the CTAP says the hydrogen market "has developed more slowly than anticipated and challenges with input cost and technological advancements remain".

"Our decision to exit the Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub was based on the uncertainty regarding the speed and timing of the market’s development, as well as the risks associated with developing capital-intensive projects of this nature," it says.

The CTAP will go to an advisory shareholder vote on 15 October.

Efforts to finalise a global plastics treaty have collapsed in Geneva, with a High Ambition Coalition that includes Australia refusing to agree to a weak treaty that doesn't constrain plastics production.

No date has been set for further talks.

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