Memo · Climate, ESG & Sustainability Reporting
Board paper: directors' declaration on the sustainability report
Board paper that equips directors to make the directors' declaration on the climate statements, sets out the reasonable-steps evidence, assurance findings, key judgments, protected statements and AI use, and proposes the resolution.
- Kind
- Memo. An internal or advice memo.
- Where it applies
- Australia
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 17 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 17 October 2026 against the 5 authorities it cites, for Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use for the board meeting that approves the sustainability report and the directors' declaration. Do not use for the financial report declaration, or without the reasonable-steps record and the assurance report attached.
How AI may be used
AI may draft the paper and summarise assurance findings, but directors must apply their own judgment, and the paper must tell them which parts of the report were AI-assisted and how they were checked.
AI may
- Draft the paper from the reasonable-steps record, management representations and the assurance report.
- Summarise the assurance provider's findings and management's responses in a table.
- Cross-check that every document listed in the paper is attached.
AI must not
- Must not draft the directors' opinion or recommend that directors make the declaration.
- Must not omit or soften adverse assurance findings or unresolved issues.
- Must not characterise which statements are protected without lawyer review.
The lawyer checks
- The declaration wording matches the year (modified or full) and the resolution meets s 296A(7).
- Directors have had enough time and information to form their own view.
- AI use, verification steps and unresolved issues are disclosed in the paper.
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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