Sustainability Impact: What you need to know – October/November 2025
The latest edition of Sustainability Impact considers some of the likely outcomes from the Solar Sharer electricity offer, what happened at COP30, new moves on Nature from the ISSB, plus an eye-opening paper on refrigerants, and more.
POLICY
Green light for national GO scheme
It’s all systems go for the Federal Government’s national Guarantee of Origin (GO) scheme. Launched on 3 November this year, the voluntary scheme provides transparency for consumers by giving companies credible proof to support claims of using green power or producing climate-friendly goods.
Administered by the Clean Energy Regulator, two types of digital certificates are issued – Renewable Electricity Guarantee of Origin (REGO) certificates, which verify when, where and how renewable electricity was generated; and Product Guarantee of Origin (PGO) certificates, which record the emissions intensity and key attributes of products such as green hydrogen.
Why does it matter?
A key pillar of the Federal Government’s Future Made in Australia program, the GO scheme guarantees renewable energy provenance as well as the energy intensity of products.
This aims to boost consumer confidence while also giving producers the credibility required to compete in decarbonising markets by verifying the emissions associated with the production, transport and storage of their products. It may also help attract investment into local lower carbon energy projects.
By enabling Australian businesses to demonstrate eligibility via the issue of Product GO certificates the scheme will play an important role in accessing initiatives including the AUD 4 billion Hydrogen HeadStart program, the AUD 6.7 billion Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive and the AUD 2 billion Green Aluminium Production Credit.
Aussie homes to share more of the sun
More Australian homes look set for a boost in solar energy access with the Federal Government’s new Solar Sharer electricity offer. Part of a retail energy market reform package, energy retailers in certain states will be required to provide at least 3 hours of free electricity in the middle of the day to households on the plan – regardless of whether the home has solar panels or not.
The program will launch in jurisdictions covered by the Default Market Offer (NSW, Southeast Queensland and South Australia) from July 2026, and the government is consulting with other states on potentially extending the program nationwide by 2027.
The Australian Energy Regulator will provide oversight to ensure consumers receive a fair deal for the rest of their electricity usage outside of the free power period. Households will require a smart meter and the ability to shift some energy usage into the middle of the day.
Why does it matter?
With more than 4 million installations, Australia has more rooftop solar capacity than the entire fleet of remaining coal-fired power stations across the country.
The abundance of solar power means the energy market often has more electricity in the middle of the day than current usage, making wholesale daytime prices so low that they are sometimes negative.
By encouraging more energy consumption when the sun is shining, the Solar Sharer offer aims to reduce the grid’s evening peak load, cutting the high grid strain (and higher prices) in the evenings. A lower evening peak may also reduce the need for costly network upgrades and interventions to ensure grid stability.
The Solar Sharer offer is also designed to help alleviate cost of living pressures for households that currently don’t have the financial means or the right circumstances to install solar panels, such as renters and apartment dwellers.
However, the program may have some drawbacks, such as the variability of solar energy across seasons, so the focus on energy efficiency measures remains important. Other initiatives to help renters access solar, such as balcony solar and battery systems, which are commonly installed in countries like Germany, may offer alternative solutions.
COP30 focuses on implementation and adaptation
The recent COP30, held in Belém, Brazil, ended with UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell stating that “climate cooperation is alive and kicking”.
The event marked 10 years since the Paris Agreement and focused on implementation and adaptation, rather than new pledges. Objectives of COP30 included operationalising commitments from previous COPs, scaling up climate finance to USD 1.3 trillion annually by 2035, accelerating the energy transition and protecting forests and biodiversity, especially the Amazon.
An update of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for 2025 – 2035 was a key objective and COP30 has concluded with 119 countries having submitted new national commitments.
COP30 officially concluded on 21 November with the final agreement adopted in the early hours of the following day. Outcomes from COP30 included:
- The launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, which includes USD 6.7 billion pledged to incentivise Tropical Forest Countries that take concrete and successful steps to preserve their forests, with at least 20 per cent of the resources going to Indigenous communities.
- Developed countries signalled a goal to triple adaption finance by 2035.
- Two major initiatives, the Global Implementation Accelerator and the Belém mission to 1.5C, were launched to help countries meet their NDC commitments and adaption plans.
- Operationalisation of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), agreed at COP28, including its first call for developing countries to submit proposals for support.
- The endorsement by 44 counties of the Belém Declaration on Hunger and Poverty, which links social protection with climate resilience.
COP31 will be hosted by Türkiye in Antalya, with the Pacific’s interests advanced by Australia assuming the role of President of Negotiations ahead of the meeting in November 2026.
Why does it matter?
When the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, no countries had formal net-zero targets. Today about 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions are now covered by net-zero pledges for around mid-century, indicating the importance of COP in keeping countries accountable for their progress towards the agreed climate goals.
The UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2025 projects that the world will exceed the 1.5°C threshold within the next decade, at least temporarily, and that full implementation of countries’ nationally determined contributions would limit warming to approximately 2.3°C by 2100.
Progress has been made since 2015, when experts calculated the world was progressing towards a temperature increase between 3°C - 3.5°C based on countries’ mitigation pledges. However, the gap between commitments and required ambition drove the focus of this year’s COP on the continued use of fossil fuels. Notwithstanding the support of over 80 countries, a global roadmap to guide the transition away from fossil fuels was omitted from the final Belém package.
Despite results that fall short of expectations from some countries, COP is an important platform to address emissions on a global stage, and to show perseverance in addressing climate change.
Australia’s EPBC reforms and global nature disclosure requirements
The Albanese Government will pass historic reforms this week to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
Central to the reforms are the creation of a National Environmental Protection Agency and the introduction of National Environmental Standards, alongside tougher penalties for breaches and enhanced disclosure and approval requirements. At the same time, the Government is seeking to reduce delays through a Streamlined Assessment Pathway, bilateral agreements with states to remove duplication, regional planning to deliver ‘go’ and ‘no-go’ zones and clarifying definitions within Environmental Protection Orders.
Nature is also in focus for the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), which plans to introduce incremental disclosure requirements on nature-related risks and opportunities beyond the scope of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. These enhanced disclosures are intended to meet common investor information needs, informed by ISSB’s biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services (BEES) research. ISSB will incorporate elements of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework, including its Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare (LEAP) methodology. TNFD has also issued guidance to support organizations in embedding nature considerations into their transition strategies.
Why does it matter?
As Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese acknowledged, “Everyone agrees that the laws as they stand are broken and need to be reformed.” The Business Council of Australia echoed this view, noting that “Right now, tens of thousands of homes, major energy projects and billions of dollars in investment are stuck in approvals gridlock.” The EPBC reforms signal a decisive shift towards stronger environmental governance and better transparency, while unlocking faster approvals in key areas of national priority like housing, renewable energy and critical minerals projects.
At the same time, the ISSB’s move to expand its disclosure requirements to include nature-related risks and opportunities is an important step towards nature being embedded into the global foundations of corporate reporting. As TNFD co-chair David Craig observed, it will help “shift the mindset across business about nature as a source of risk, resilience and value, and help inform better strategy, risk management and capital allocation decision making across economies”.
INDUSTRY
WA announces green steel preference
The green steel sector is gaining momentum in Western Australia. It has become the material of choice for major state government projects, with the Cook Government issuing an expression of interest for locally produced green steel to be used in new infrastructure, including railways, roads, transmission lines, and upcoming hospital developments.
As a central element of the state’s Made in WA plan, sourcing green steel for government projects creates greater opportunities to build a local green steel recycling industry, using feedstock from decommissioned mining operations and offshore oil and gas facilities.
Further advancing green steel in WA, the NeoSmelt project in Kwinana is working on innovative manufacturing techniques to convert Pilbara iron ore into near-zero emission iron through an electric smelting furnace.
In Collie, Green Steel WA is moving forward with plans for a Green Steel Recycling Mill, which will process local scrap steel via an electric arc furnace to produce green steel reinforcing bars.
Additionally, Rio Tinto has entered into a Joint Development Agreement with Calix to establish a Zero Emissions Steel Technology (ZESTY) green iron demonstration plant in Kwinana. The project has also secured funding from ARENA, supporting efforts to enable Pilbara iron ores to be used in lower-emission steel production.
Why does it matter?
Accounting for approximately 38 per cent of global supply, Western Australia is one world’s largest exporters of iron ore and there is a huge opportunity for the state to lead the way in producing green iron and steel.
Steelmaking currently accounts for up to nine per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with the majority of these attributed to the iron making process.
Low-medium grade hematite/goethite ores make up the bulk of Pilbara region’s iron ore exports, and these new technologies look to pave a pathway for them to be used in future low-carbon steelmaking routes. This may help to futureproof Australian iron ore exports in a decarbonising global economy.
Spotlight on refrigerant footprint
Heating, cooling and refrigeration systems may be vital in modern buildings, but the refrigerants they use represent a growing share of building emissions. A new discussion paper released by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and AIRAH, the peak body representing the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration and building services industries, highlights refrigerants as a critical emissions source in building infrastructure. It urges a strategic approach to refrigerant management as part of asset planning, not just maintenance.
The paper notes that despite work by some industry associations to develop roadmaps, there are currently no national or state-based plans for a controlled transition for buildings.
Refrigerants make up a growing share of building emissions as electrification increases and the grid decarbonises, and the paper states that action is required to phase down high Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants, improve leak management and integrate refrigerant strategies into net-zero building pathways.
Why does it matter?
Refrigerants are essential to modern life, with 65 per cent used in buildings as stationary air conditioning, 15 per cent used for refrigeration and 20 per cent used in vehicle air conditioning.
While Australia phased out CFC and HCFC refrigerants under the Montreal Protocol due to their contribution to ozone depletion, the ozone-safe HFCs, which are the dominant refrigerants used today, have a global warming potential thousands of times higher than CO₂. This impact led to the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol in 2016 to transition away from HFCs, and Australia has regulated an 85 per cent phase-down of bulk HFC imports by January 2036.
However, the report highlights that Australia has more than 62 million refrigerant-using devices containing a total of 55,000 tonnes of refrigerants. This represents 100 MtCO2e if released into the atmosphere, which typically occurs through leakage during transport, installation, operation, maintenance and decommissioning at end of life.
The report highlights the importance of including refrigerants as a key consideration when designing new buildings, and monitoring and planning for existing building upgrades.
WESTPAC IN ACTION
Westpac releases 2025 reporting suite
As part of Westpac’s 2025 reporting suite, we’ve outlined our strategic approach to addressing climate-related risks and opportunities – you can read about our progress, the challenges we’ve encountered and actions we’re taking to drive long-term value in our 2025 Sustainability Report.
Our Climate Transition Plan also outlines the steps we will take along the path to meeting our climate ambitions – you can read about it here.
Taxonomy presents clarity and consistency
The latest issue of KangaNews’ Sustainable Finance magazine includes a wrap up of the recent Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI) summit, which explored the implementation and real-world application of Australia’s sustainable finance taxonomy.
Westpac is a taxonomy pilot participant and our Chief Sustainability Officer, Fiona Wild, spoke at the summit, noting that the taxonomy is an opportunity to bring “clarity and consistency” to green and transition investment.
“If people can be really clear and consistent about the application of definitions, we have an opportunity to really build scale,” she said. Read the article here, followed by a roundtable discussion around taxonomy alignment in the debt market featuring Westpac’s Michael Chen (Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer) and Charlotte Plaisant Millecamps (Head of Sustainable Finance).
Sustainable Finance Market Update
Westpac’s latest Sustainable Finance Market Update includes notable transactions in Australia and New Zealand, the latest market insights, the first Australian Sustainable Finance Taxonomy-aligned Green Bond, an update to the Climate Bonds Standard and Certification Scheme and more. Read about the latest trends here.
A new idea to fast-track the energy transition
Fast-tracking the energy transition requires a shift in the national conversation from emissions reduction to more pragmatic questions such as, “How much new energy is needed to keep the lights on? Where is it needed? And, by when?”.
That’s the message from David Scrivener, Global Head of Energy, Infrastructure and Resources at Westpac Institutional Bank, in a recent article in the Australian Financial Review. You can read the AFR Industry Insight here.
Powering the data centre boom
The global data centre market size is projected to grow from USD 269 billion in 2025 to USD 584 billion by 2032 – and its expansion is also underpinning the development of renewable energy.
Australia is emerging as a budding regional hot spot. Drawing on insights from leaders in Australia’s data centre industry, this Westpac IQ article and infographic explore what will it take to get there. Read the article and check out the infographic here.
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