Prepared for Climate Action Week Sydney 2026, this ASFI background paper explores rising physical climate risks, the growing economic costs of disasters, and the role of the financial system in supporting investment in climate adaptation and resilience in Australia. It accompanied an industry event co-hosted with IAG

ASFI’s submission to the Australian Government’s General Review of ChAFTA focuses on how trade policy settings can better support sustainable investment, emerging green industries and cross-border capital flows between Australia and China.

ASFI’s submission to the UK Transition Finance Council’s second consultation on entity-level transition finance reflects a consistent ASFI position: transition finance is only credible when it is anchored in real-economy change.

ASFI outlines key design principles for Australia’s $1.1bn Cleaner Fuels Program, focusing on taxonomy alignment, cost-effective abatement and policy settings to unlock low-carbon liquid fuels.

ASFI’s submission to DFAT’s Southeast Asia FTAs modernisation review, outlining priorities to support green trade, sustainable investment and regional capital flows

This paper reviews how current corporate and sustainability reporting frameworks address First Nations issues, identifying major gaps in materiality, governance and data sovereignty. It outlines the risks these gaps create for companies and investors, and outlines a potential pathway to improve the quality and consistency of First Nations disclosures in Australia.

ASFI’s annual review of sustainable finance highlights continued progress and clear areas requiring action. The 2025 Progress Tracker shows meaningful progress on core reforms, and highlights the continuing need for financial institutions to deepen the integration of sustainability across governance, culture and performance frameworks.

ACSI, ASFI and RIAA have responded to the ACCC’s consideration of class exemptions to improve business productivity. We recommend the ACCC consider a sustainability-related class exemption, modelled on the UK approach, to provide clear legal certainty for low-risk cooperation that delivers environmental and productivity benefits.

Early market insights from ASFI’s Taxonomy Implementation Program reveal strong demand to expand the Australian Sustainable Finance Taxonomy to include climate adaptation and resilience — a low-cost, high-impact way to unlock private capital for Australia’s transition.

ASFI has lodged its submission to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources on the design of the National Reconstruction Fund’s Net Zero Fund.

The Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI) has lodged its submission to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s consultation on Implementing Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024–2030.

Australia’s climate policy framework has evolved rapidly, and is starting to form a system that gives financial institutions the clarity and confidence to back the transition. Our latest paper, How elements of Australia’s climate architecture combine to enable private capital flows for climate mitigation, maps how the key components fit together.

ASFI has responded to Treasury’s Draft Transition Planning Guidance, supporting clear and internationally aligned standards to help businesses develop credible transition plans. Our submission calls for stronger principles, clarity on government direction, use of the Australian taxonomy, funding disclosure, robust First Nations engagement, and clear guardrails on carbon credits.

ASFI’s submission highlights the importance of clear, Paris-aligned guidance for credible transition planning, recommending stronger safeguards on taxonomies and capital expenditure alignment to ensure finance supports genuine decarbonisation.

The Australian Sustainable Finance Taxonomy is the first in the world to cover the mining sector, and now ASFI is once again breaking new ground, after being engaged to explore science-based methods for developing draft taxonomy nature criteria for agriculture, forestry and land management – sectors critical to biodiversity, water, pollution management and national resilience.

ASFI has responded to the Climate Change Authority’s 2025 Issues Paper, emphasising the link between climate change and productivity, the need for strong policy signals to unlock investment in mitigation and adaptation, and the role of supportive regulatory settings. Our submission highlights reforms to drive decarbonisation, resilience, and capital flows towards Australia’s net zero transition.

ASFI has lodged its submission to Treasury’s consultation on Sustainable Investment Product Labels. We support a flexible, credible framework that improves transparency, reduces greenwashing, and aligns with international approaches. The submission sets out three core principles; flexibility, integrity and international alignment, to strengthen consumer trust and grow Australia’s sustainable finance market.

Developed with Farming for Future and informed by collaborative engagement with the NCAG as part of the VNC program, this report shares final insights from the program, highlights key barriers to progress and outlines a proposed way forward to embed natural capital into mainstream financial decision-making.

The Australian sustainable finance taxonomy provides a common language for green and transition finance in Australia, supporting the allocation of capital towards activities that enable Australia’s net zero ambitions.

ASFI’s COP31 SteerCo has outlined a trade, finance and investment agenda; consisting of five high impact initiatives designed to break down barriers to decarbonisation, and one focused on adaptation and resilience.