Environmental Reporting in Australia: Current Practices and Issues for the Future

This briefing addresses a number of current practices in environmental reporting in Australia. It is limited to consideration of mandatory and voluntary initiatives at the national level (rather than state or territory levels). Three initiatives are explored. Two of these are mandatory requirements - section 299 corporate disclosures required under the 2001 Corporations Act and section 516 disclosures by Commonwealth government organizations under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. One other initiative is voluntary - Public Environmental Reporting - and is aimed at all organizations. Links with the Global Reporting Initiative are considered, followed by a brief comment on incentives and users of environmental reports. The briefing concludes by raising three issues that need to be addressed in the future - sustainable development; education, training and communication; and environmental accounting