Do we have to do mandatory climate reporting?

You must prepare a sustainability report if you already lodge a financial report under Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act and you also meet one of the size, NGER or funds-under-management tests in section 292A. Both gates have to be passed: with no Chapter 2M obligation, section 292A never engages however large you are. Which of the three reporting groups you fall into decides which financial year is your first.

What happens if we do not lodge?

The sustainability report is part of your Chapter 2M annual reporting, so failing to prepare or lodge it contravenes the Corporations Act and ASIC can act. ASIC has said enforcement is most likely where an entity fails to prepare a report at all, or where misconduct is serious or reckless.

What is the modified liability period and what does it protect?

For financial years commencing between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2027, statements in your sustainability report about Scope 3 emissions, scenario analysis and transition plans can only be actioned by ASIC or in criminal proceedings. Broader forward-looking climate statements had the same protection only for financial years commencing during 2025. Both windows are closed-ended and neither renews.

Glossary›Regulation, capture and thresholds / Regulation, capture and timing›ASIC Regulatory Guide 280

Glossary term

Cluster B · B10

Tier 1 · differentiator

ASIC Regulatory Guide 280

Definition

Regulatory Guide 280 Sustainability reporting is ASIC’s guidance on the mandatory climate reporting regime. It explains who must prepare a sustainability report, what it must contain, how the modified liability settings operate, the role of directors, how relief is applied for, and how ASIC will supervise and enforce the requirements. It was published on 31 March 2025.

· published 31 March 2025 ·

Current

On this page

In practice
What the assurer does with it
Commonly confused with
Timing and relief
Sources
Related terms
Related questions

Cluster

B · Regulation, capture and thresholds / Regulation, capture and timing, 26 terms

In practice

RG 280 is guidance, not law. It does not create obligations and it cannot change the Corporations Act. What it does is tell you how the regulator reads the Act and how it will exercise its powers, which for planning purposes is most of what a board needs.

For a first-time reporter, four sections carry almost all the operational content.

Who is captured. ASIC sets out the section 292A tests: the size test on consolidated revenue, gross assets and employees; the emissions limb for registered NGER corporations; and the value of assets limb for asset owners. This is the part most often read in isolation and most often read wrongly, because the tests only apply to an entity that already has a Chapter 2M financial reporting obligation.

What the report contains, and what sits outside it. RG 280 covers the sustainability report itself, and separately addresses sustainability-related financial information disclosed outside the report, in prospectuses, product disclosure statements and other documents. That second topic is the one that surprises people. Content moved out of the sustainability report does not thereby escape scrutiny, and it does not carry the section 1707D protections.

Directors’ role. ASIC’s stated expectation is that directors develop their understanding, experience and capabilities in sustainability reporting over time, which is the rationale it gives for the modified declaration during the transitional years. That framing is useful to a board: the regulator has said the maturity curve is expected, but it has also said it expects the curve to be climbed.

Relief and enforcement. ASIC will consider individual relief applications case by case, asks entities to apply as early as possible, and has said it will take a pragmatic and proportionate approach to supervision while industry adjusts. Section E of the guide sets out that approach.

The single most important thing to understand about RG 280 is what it is not. It is not an extension of any deadline, it does not create a transitional exemption, and the pragmatic-supervision posture is a statement about how ASIC will prioritise, not a promise about what it will tolerate.

What the assurer does with it

The assurance provider uses RG 280 the same way the entity should: as the regulator’s interpretation where the Act is silent or ambiguous. In practice it appears in an engagement in two places. At acceptance, where a capture or grouping question is finely balanced and the assurer wants to see the entity’s reasoning tested against ASIC’s stated position. And at reporting, where an entity has relied on relief, in which case the assurer wants the relief instrument or the ASIC decision, not a description of a conversation. Where an entity’s position departs from RG 280, the assurer does not automatically treat that as an error, because guidance is not law, but they will expect the departure to be deliberate, documented and advised on.

Commonly confused with

The Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards. RG 280 tells you how ASIC administers the obligation; AASB S2 tells you what to disclose. Also confused with ASIC’s shorter web guidance pages on sustainability reporting, which summarise RG 280 and are easier to read but are not the source.

Timing and relief

RG 280 is a live document and ASIC has said it will update it as the regime matures. Any position taken from it should be re-checked against the current version rather than a saved copy, particularly on relief and enforcement, which are the parts most likely to move.