Sustainable finance groups are calling on the new, climate-focused government to move quickly to put Australia into a leadership position on important topics, including transition finance, or risk being unable to finance fossil fuels.
“Australia is suffering from being a policy taker, we’re not shaping and informing policies globally,” he said.One piece of work currently under planning is an Australia-specific sustainable finance taxonomy, which would give clear definitions of what constitutes “green”, “sustainable” and “transition” finance.
She said transition finance will be critical in making sure different sectors of the economy transition in a way that supports people and is fair, and the government now has the opportunity to move into a leadership role globally, with other Asian countries like Singapore also working on transition definitions.
While the taxonomy would be designed to operate globally, it would help Australia align with Asia’s net zero emissions 2050 targets, which include more fossil fuels than Europe’s 2030 targets. ASIC chairman Joe Longo and Reserve Bank governor Phil Lowe both said in March that Australian companies need to do more work to detail their carbon exposures, with the Council of Financial Regulators, together with APRA, focused on ensuring the template for reportingMr Longo has also signalled that Australia could legislate in line with its international peers to mandate carbon disclosures, a move that would force banks to disclose how much carbon is emitted from everything that they finance,...
Why the need for government money? What about the market?