Not just a burden: How ESG compliance can accelerate company goals
WORDS BY ANTONINA JOSON
There is an assumption that compliance is simply a one-time item on a company checklist. Managers may see compliance as a secondary, low-priority obligation, and even more so when it is related to the environment.
ESG and the organisation
Abbie Freestone, Director of Climate and ESG at Rewild Agency, urges us to reevaluate the way we think about ESG compliance. In her talk titled“ Leveraging ESG Compliance for Strategic Value” held at the 2026 Australasian Fleet Leadership and Education Summit, encouraged attendees to view ESG compliance as a tool instead of a burden.
ESG compliance includes reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, climate goals, targets and strategies, risk management, governance processes and financial impacts of climate change on an organisation.
The ultimate goal, according to Abbie, is to improve quality, consistency, and comparability of climate-related financial disclosures.
So far, Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards( ASRS) only mandates climate reporting. Soon, there will be a shift in ESG compliance. This shift will be rolled out over three years, affecting 6,000 businesses across the country.
Corporate commitment to ESG peaked in 2023, with many companies setting ambitious targets. Though these targets were ambitious, they were also comparatively unrealistic. At present, most organisations will be unlikely to meet these targets by 2030 or 2035 despite long-term goals changing to 2040-2050.
Previously, voluntary reporting led to mismatched information with formats being inconsistent across industries. With the new mandatory reporting rules, reported data will become standardised. This will allow investors to directly compare and evaluate the long-term finances of an organisation.
The three pillars
According to Abbie, there are three core pillars in climate reporting. In analysing these pillars, evaluations can paint a clearer picture of the organisation’ s bottom line.
The first pillar is transition risk. This refers to the costs and legal adjustments associated with moving towards a lower-carbon economy.
The second pillar is physical risk. These are direct threats or climate-related disasters. An example would be infrastructure damage from floods or earthquakes.
12 ISSUE 59 JUNE 2026 / WWW. AFMA. ORG. AU