The Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI) has published a consultation on a national sustainable finance taxonomy. The taxonomy will serve as a classification tool for companies and investors to demonstrate whether their economic activity is climate-aligned. The paper invites feedback from stakeholders in three priority sectors: the built environment; minerals, mining and metals; and electricity generation and storage. “The Australian Taxonomy’s development is being guided by the principles of credibility, usability [and] interoperability, and [of] prioritising coverage of activities that will drive the greatest climate change mitigation outcomes,” said Kristy Graham, CEO of the ASFI. “A credible, internationally interoperable and useable taxonomy will support the growth and credibility of sustainable finance and investment in Australia and help ensure [it] remains an attractive destination for investment to enable the net zero transition.” The ASFI is leading the taxonomy’s initial development phase alongside the Australian Commonwealth Department of Treasury and will be developing a framework covering climate change mitigation across six economic sectors. Feedback during the consultation phase – which closes on 30 June – will inform the next iteration of the draft taxonomy. A second public consultation will be launched in Q4. Separately, the ASFI will publicly consult on draft climate change mitigation criteria for additional priority sectors, a ‘do no significant harm’ framework, minimum social safeguards, and proposals around the taxonomy’s implementation. “The taxonomy will support Australia to play a stronger international role on sustainable finance, and help ensure we are a standard-setter, not a standard-taker,” Graham added.
