If you’re currently gearing up for a big 2025, there’s one new year’s resolution you can’t afford to skip: getting your sustainability messaging in shape. With mandatory climate reporting officially kicking off from 1 January, the pressure is on to ensure your environmental claims go beyond good intentions — and are backed by action and accountability.
There might have been a time (not too long ago) when most brands could sidestep sustainability and leave talking about impact to those who had built their core messaging around their environmentalism.
But times have changed.
With increased regulation and oversight, and consumers wising up to greenwashing, the time of unchecked and vague promises is over. As we roll into a new year, prioritising your environmental impact and communicating it effectively is no longer optional, but mandated.
Mandatory climate reporting is here
In the past few years, mandatory climate reporting (based on the ISSB standards) has gained traction with countries across the globe. Australia will follow suit in 2025, when climate reporting becomes mandatory as part of annual financial reporting.
Mandatory climate-related financial disclosures (or mandatory climate reporting for short) comes into effect for larger organisations in January 2025, with the rollout for medium and small organisations spanning over the following three years. The reporting will affect every industry in Australia and bring more transparency to sustainability communications.
Your efforts – and what you don’t do – will be out for everyone to see. This means brands must have robust emissions measurement and reporting in place, and in-house teams or agency partners who are confident in communicating impact.
Who needs to report and when
Even if your organisation isn’t included in the first cohort, take 2025 as an opportunity to consider your impact measurement, and reporting tools and processes, to ensure you’re in a good place when you’re due to report. Here’s who needs to report, and when:
Group 1 — annual reporting starting on or after 1 January 2025
Companies that meet two of the following criteria: have over 500 employees, $1B or more in consolidated gross assets, and consolidated revenue of $500M or more.
Group 2 — annual reporting starting on or after 1 July 2026
Companies that meet two of the following criteria: have over 250 employees, $500M or more in consolidated gross assets, and consolidated revenue of $200M or more.
Group 3 — annual reporting starting on or after 1 July 2027
Companies that meet two of the following criteria: have over 100 employees, $25M or more in consolidated gross assets, and consolidated revenue of $50M or more.
The ACCC and ASIC are watching
Greenwashing won’t just get you bad press, it might also land you a hefty fine. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions (ACCC) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) are increasingly watching, and greenwashing sweeps conducted over the past few years have found many businesses make misleading claims. ASIC’s first successful greenwashing case made it through the Federal Courts earlier this year.
While some cases have related more directly to misleading actions, like Active Super advertising they had eliminated investments in environmentally harmful causes when they hadn’t, an increasing number of businesses are getting in trouble because of the language they use. What you say and which words you use matter: vague terms, like ‘sustainable’, ‘green’, and ‘recycled’ can’t be thrown around without clear and detailed explanations anymore.
Consumers care about sustainability — and they’ll call you out on misleading claims
Caring about the future of our planet isn’t just a niche consumer trend: it’s part of the mainstream.
A 2022 study by the Consumer Policy Research Institute found that 45% of Australians considered sustainability as part of their decision-making when shopping, and recent PwC research shows consumers are willing to pay a 9.7% sustainability premium, despite an increased cost of living.
At the same time, a quarter of Australians say they’ve spotted brands greenwashing, and 59% say they think worse of businesses doing so (Magna Global 2023). If you’re making misleading green claims, accidentally or on purpose, expect to be called out by both your competitors and customers, especially on social media platforms.
Get your sustainability messaging right with our free guide
Sustainability literacy should be high up on your priority list both for internal teams and external partners. Every person who works in or with your brand should be across the regulations and new standards, as a first step. Words and their exact meanings also hold more power and consequences than ever before. Knowing the difference between ‘compostable’ and ‘biodegradable’, or ‘net-zero’ and ‘carbon neutral’ can be the deciding factor in building or undermining your credibility. Design, icons, and colours matter too — making packaging green or slapping a recycling logo on it to signal sustainability won’t be enough to pass the test.
To help set you on the right track, we created ‘Straight talking your sustainability — a handbook for speaking about sustainability without greenwashing, wishing, or hushing’.
From handy dos and don’ts to a sustainability glossary on what terms to use (and not to use), this free handbook is the perfect pocket-sized companion for marketers and communication teams on how to talk sustainability with transparency and accuracy.
Brands play an important role in shaping behaviours and attitudes around a more sustainable future for our planet. This progress only happens with greater transparency, and the impact of your sustainability messaging will hinge on how well it aligns with real, measurable actions. The time to get it right is now.
