Australia’s biggest companies are not heeding calls from regulators and investors to do more to mitigate climate change risks, according to a new report by environmental campaign group Market Forces. The report is based on public information from 72 big listed companies operating in sectors considered high-risk on climate change. It found that just above half identify climate change as a material business risk, and just 32 per cent disclose detailed discussions of specific climate change risks facing their business. Market Forces analyst Will Van de Pol said that despite increasing rhetoric from investors and regulators about climate change risks, there has been little progress to report. "Companies are willing to make general statements recognising climate change as a potential risk but very few have gone into the detail of how climate change risks might materialise for their business and what they are doing in response," he said. The Market Forces study follows a report by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in September that found that out of 60 listed companies in a sample of the ASX 300, just 17 per cent identified climate risk as a material risk to their business. That review found in some cases "climate risk disclosures to be far too general, and of limited use to investors".

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