Our 2025 Annual Report captures an extremely active year during a period of global turmoil. It also records IGCC’s 20th Anniversary.
The Context
- Climate ambition pulled back in some major economies and bipartisan support for pursuing net zero fractured in Australia.
- The risk environment worsened with annual global surface temperatures exceeding 1.5°C in individual years.
- The Asia Pacific came into focus as a key region for global decarbonisation.
- Rising energy demand across Asia and strengthening bilateral engagement reinforced the region’s strategic importance.
- Australia’s natural resources, clean energy potential, institutional capital and policy momentum could see the country become our region’s decarbonisation partner of choice.
- Australia was appointed to the COP31 Presidency, providing a potential lever to influence climate-based trade opportunities and global ambition.
Throughout 2025, members’ investment practice on climate continued and matured — shifting from ambition to implementation.
IGCC helped members connect capital, policy and practice across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific.
In line with their fiduciary duties, investors:
- strengthened net zero investment practice across their portfolios,
- deepened systemic corporate engagement to drive real-world emissions reductions, and
- advocated for the policy settings required for an orderly and resilient transition.
Read the Full Annual Report 2025
Read IGCC’s Strategy to 2030
What We Delivered in 2025: Highlights
Policy & Advocacy: Advocating for an Orderly and Just Transition
2025 was an exceptionally active year for climate policy in Australia. Members navigated the rollout of mandatory climate-related disclosures and the sustainable finance taxonomy, and a wave of reforms following the 2035 target. They included the Government’s Net Zero plan, Treasury modelling, six sector decarbonisation plans, and the first National Climate Risk Assessment and National Adaptation Plan.
Securing the strongest viable ambition within the Climate Change Authority’s recommended range for the 2035 emissions reduction target was our central policy priority.
To elevate the investor voice at this critical time, we:
- Led the public Climate Action Pays Off campaign, grounded in evidence and members’ best financial interests
- Coordinated a C-suite investor delegation to Parliament and broad parliamentary engagement
- Delivered major submissions on the Government’s net zero plan and modelling, analysing gaps and advising on investability across sectors
We also contributed to the Treasurer’s Economic Reform Roundtable and published research on reforming Australia’s Special Investment Vehicles, outlining how optimising the public finance ecosystem could help unlock more than $100bn in private investment aligned to net zero and resilience.
The Annual Report includes a detailed case study on Climate Action Pays Off, documenting its national reach and the role of investor advocacy in the lead-up to the Government adopting a 62–70% by 2035 emissions reduction target.
Investor Practice: Accelerating Net Zero Investment Practice
In 2025, investors shifted focus from targets and disclosure toward how transition plans translate into action — and on the data, metrics and governance needed to support credible implementation. Physical risk and resilience moved sharply up the agenda.
Our Investor Practice work focused on:
- A 2025 Investor Climate Transition Working Group series examining owner–manager relationships, the role of transition in strategic asset allocation, and evolving approaches to quantifying financed emissions and assessing asset alignment
- Engagement with the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, in collaboration with Chartered Accountants ANZ, to improve and streamline assurance of financed emissions disclosures
- Participation in global investor initiatives shaping international standards and expectations
- Monthly member briefings, including deep dives on the National Climate Risk Assessment and engagement with the National Reconstruction Fund
The report features our flagship research — the State of Net Zero Investment Australia (65 firms managing $4.2 trillion) and the State of Climate Investment Report for Aotearoa New Zealand (27 investors representing $263 billion) — as well as a case study on our role as Secretariat Chairs (with AIGCC) in the review of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative.
Corporate Engagement: Driving Down Emissions from Industry
Achieving company- and sector-level progress increasingly requires a more systemic approach to engagement. Beyond the first wave of decarbonisation actions embedded in many transition plans, progress risks plateauing — and investors recognise that divestment does not deliver the real-world decarbonisation outcomes needed to mitigate systemic climate impacts.
In 2025, our work focussed on:
A dedicated case study outlines our Board Capability for the Climate Transition guidance.
Cross-Workstream Priorities
Physical Risk & Resilience: Driving Urgent, Economy-Wide Adaptation and Resilience
As climate impacts intensify, investors increasingly required credible, decision-useful national frameworks. We focused on influencing the National Climate Risk Assessment and National Adaptation Plan, with the Risk Assessment aligning closely with our recommendations. We also progressed our broader Road to Resilience agenda, including development of physical risk methodologies and stewardship guidance.
Just Transition: Sharing the Benefits of the Net Zero Economy
The just transition continued to shift from an abstract principle to a practical financial consideration. Our work included supporting implementation of our Investor Expectations for Corporate Just Transition Planning guidance — with investors including Aware Super turning the guidance into action — engaging regional stakeholders, participating in the Net Zero Economy Authority Stakeholder Panel, and deepening work on “just adaptation”.
What’s Next: Strategy to 2030
In late 2025, IGCC finalised its Strategy to 2030, setting out the next phase of work to deliver real and accelerated progress toward a net zero, climate-resilient economy.
The strategy outlines how IGCC will lead, connect, collaborate and advocate on behalf of investor members — ensuring capital, policy and practice continue to move in step, and helping investors responsibly manage climate risks and opportunities in line with their fiduciary duty.
Read IGCC’s Strategy to 2030 to learn more about our ambitions and priorities for the next five years.
Read the Full Annual Report 2025
Read IGCC’s Strategy to 2030
Media Contact
Fergus Pitt – Director of Media & Communications
+61 476 101 542
fergus.pitt@igcc.org.au