IGCC Welcomes Budget Measures To Support Net Zero Transition
26 October 2022
The Investor Group on Climate Change welcomes funding in last night’s federal budget towards tools and standards that we expect to be important for the efficient allocation of capital in the transition to net zero.
The budget allocated; “$29.8 million over 4 years from 2022–23 (and $6.9 million per year ongoing) for the Treasury to restore capability to model climate risks and opportunities.”
As IGCC covered in our recent statement of policy priorities, the economy needs consistent, accurate, comprehensive, timely, and commercially available records of national physical climate risks, and that the government funding for adequate science to produce this data reliably.
The budget also allocated “$6.2 million over 4 years from 2022–23 for the Treasury and the Australian Accounting Standards Board to develop and introduce climate reporting standards for large businesses and financial institutions, in line with international reporting requirements.”
Our policy priorities also included phasing in a TCFD and ISSB aligned mandatory climate risk disclosure regime.
These budget allocations are a positive sign of progress towards those two important priorities. If properly implemented they will support the transparency investors need to efficiently fund the orderly and just transition to a resilient, net zero economy. This is essential to their beneficiaries’ financial interests.