Environmental Reporting
1. State of the Environment Reports
Commonwealth
Commonwealth State of the Environment reports provide information about environmental and heritage conditions, trends and pressures for the Australian continent, surrounding seas and Australia's external territories. The reports can be found here:
http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/index.html
The website also provides links to the State of the Environment Reports published by the states and territories.
NSW
Under section 10 of the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991 the NSW Government is required to release a State of the Environment Report every three years that reports on the status of the main environmental issues in NSW. The current volume can be viewed here:
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/soe/index.htm
2. Sustainability Reporting
Under section 516A of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Commonwealth Departments, Parliamentary Departments, Commonwealth Authorities, Commonwealth Companies and other Commonwealth Agencies must include a report on environmental matters in their annual reports. This report must:
- report how the agency's activities have accorded with the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development ( ESD );
- identify how their departmental outcomes contributed to ESD ;
- document the agency's impacts upon the environment and measures taken to minimise those impacts;
- identify the review mechanisms in place to review and increase the measures the agency takes to minimise its impact upon the environment.
To look at the annual sustainability report of Commonwealth department and agencies, you will need to visit their websites. A list of all Commonwealth departments is found here:
3. Corporate Sustainability Reporting
Most corporate reporting that is currently being undertaken is voluntary. However, there is some mandatory reporting for certain companies.
Under the Commonwealth Corporations Act 2001 , some types of companies are required to produce an annual report. The annual report is required to include a 'directors report' that must:
if the entity's operations are subject to any particular and significant environmental regulation under a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory - give details of the entity's performance in relation to environmental regulation.
Copies of directors' reports can be obtained from the company itself, from Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) by paying a fee or, in many cases, on the internet. The ASIC website can be accessed here:
http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf
If you believe that a company has not made a disclosure to this effect in its annual director's report, contact ASIC with details.