A Monash University expert is available to discuss the proposed Australian Sustainable Finance Strategy and how it needs further review to ensure it can actually meet sustainability and environmental goals.
Associate Professor Anita Foerster
Business Law and Taxation, School of Business, Monash University
Director, Monash Business School Green Lab
Contact: Monash Media +61 3 9903 4840 media@monash.edu or
Loretta Wylde, Media Advisor on +61 (0) 432 123 106, loretta.wylde@monash.edu
Read more of Associate Professor Foerster’s work on Monash Lens
Associate Professor Foerster can also comment on:-
- Environmental and climate change law, regulation and governance
- The roles and responsibilities of the private sector in addressing climate change
- The implementation of legal frameworks for climate mitigation and adaptation at different jurisdictional scales
- Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in Australian settlements
- The allocation of scarce natural resources (such as water) between competing users.
The following can be attributed to Associate Professor Foerster:
"Sustainable finance reforms are well progressed in many nations, particularly the European Union, so the recent proposal for an Australian Sustainable Finance Strategy shows Australia is catching up with the rest of the world. However, there is more we can do within this Strategy to help meet critical sustainability goals.
"To see real progress towards a more sustainable financial system, Australia needs more targeted disclosure rules, new sustainability duties for company directors and mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence obligations for large companies.
"The first draft of Australia’s Sustainable Finance Strategy includes important reforms such as mandatory climate risk reporting for businesses and a new sustainable finance taxonomy to support investors to allocate capital to business activities which help achieve sustainability goals, but the Australian government needs to explore further opportunities to ensure this proposed reform can actually make a difference.
"We need to see a shift of business and investment away from activities which worsen climate change and biodiversity loss, to be in line with the goals set out in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and other key sustainability instruments.
"As well as helping to manage the financial risks posed by climate change, biodiversity loss and other sustainability challenges, these sustainable finance reforms seek to clearly align private sector capital and resources to effectively address these critical problems.”
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For any other topics on which you may be seeking expert comment, contact the Monash University Media Unit on +61 3 9903 4840 or media@monash.edu