Policy · Climate, ESG & Sustainability Reporting
Sustainability reporting committee terms of reference (board oversight of the climate statements and directors' declaration)
Terms of reference for a board committee (or a remit added to the audit and risk committee) overseeing the mandatory sustainability report: membership, duties, the evidence directors need for the declaration, sustainability records, protected statements, assurance and the reporting timetable.
- Kind
- Policy. A policy or procedure for a firm or client.
- Where it applies
- Australia, Commonwealth
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 5 authorities it cites, for Australia and Commonwealth.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when a Group 1, 2 or 3 reporting entity under Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act sets up board oversight of its sustainability report, or adds climate reporting to an existing audit and risk committee charter. Adapt for a registered scheme, RSE licensee or CCIV, where the directors of the responsible entity or trustee give the declaration.
How AI may be used
AI may adapt the terms of reference to the entity's structure, group and reporting timetable; a lawyer or company secretary checks the delegations against the constitution and board charter and confirms the declaration and records duties are correct for the entity's reporting year.
AI may
- Fit the template to the entity's committee structure, financial year end and reporting group from facts supplied
- Build the annual reporting calendar from the financial year, the assurance phasing table and the lodgement date of the annual report
- Compare the draft with the existing audit and risk committee charter and list overlaps and gaps
AI must not
- Must not determine which reporting group the entity is in, or whether the reasonable steps form of declaration still applies
- Must not delegate to the committee any decision the Corporations Act or the constitution reserves to the board, including making the directors' declaration
- Must not state that a disclosure is a protected statement; that is a legal judgment on each statement
The lawyer checks
- The board, not the committee, approves the sustainability report and makes the directors' declaration, and the charter says so
- The form of declaration (reasonable steps, or the full opinion from years commencing 1 January 2028) matches the reporting year
- Sustainability records duties and seven-year retention are allocated to a named owner
- The assurance scope in the calendar matches ASSA 5010 for the entity's group and year
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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