Sustainability reporting and audit relief decisions register

This register contains some of our decisions on relief applications under Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act in relation to sustainability reporting. This register does not provide details of every single decision made. This register excludes financial reporting relief applications.

Section 340 exemption orders are not gazetted. The purpose of this register is to improve the level of transparency and the quality of information available about decisions we make when we are asked to exercise ASIC’s discretionary powers to grant relief from the sustainability reporting provisions in Chapter 2M. It summarises examples of situations where we have exercised, or refused to exercise, ASIC’s exemption and modification powers from the sustainability reporting and audit provisions.

On this webpage, references to sections (s), chapters (Chs) and parts (Pts) are to the Corporations Act, unless otherwise specified.

Date of relief instrument or decision	Relevant provisions of the Corporations Act	Entity type	Relief given or refused	Reasons for decision	Conditions of relief	Duration of relief
19/6/2025	s292A(1)	Company	We granted relief to three wholly owned entities of a registered superannuation entity (RSE) so that they do not have to prepare a sustainability report for the first financial year in which they would otherwise be required to do so. The three wholly owned entities are unlisted companies that meet the threshold for sustainability reporting as part of ‘group 1’. The wholly owned entities have no material external operations and primarily provide internal support services to entities within the RSE group. The RSE satisfies the threshold for sustainability reporting as part of ‘group 2’ and is not required to prepare a sustainability report until the second financial year in which the wholly owned entities are required to do so. Under the accounting standards, the RSE is required to prepare financial statement on a consolidated basis, which includes the wholly owned entities. The wholly owned entities do not require relief in subsequent reporting periods because the RSE intends to elect to prepare a consolidated sustainability report for the consolidated entity under s292A(2) from the RSE’s first reporting period.	We granted relief because we were satisfied the costs of preparing standalone audited sustainability reports for just one financial year would impose unreasonable burden on the wholly owned entities, where: the three wholly owned entities primarily perform internal support functions and services to the RSE group cumulative greenhouse gas emissions of the three wholly owned entities represent an estimated less than 1% of the group’s absolute greenhouse gas emissions, and the climate-related financial disclosures of the three wholly owned entities would only be available for one reporting period if relief were refused.	The financial reports of each of the subsidiaries contain a summary of the relief provided.	One financial year
19/11/2025	s292A(1)	Company	We made an in-principle decision to refuse relief from the requirement to prepare sustainability reports for four entities within an Australian corporate group for the financial year ended 31 December 2025. Each of the four entities are a large proprietary company that currently lodge individual Ch 2M financial reports and meet the sustainability reporting requirements in their own right. Relief was sought on the basis that one of the four entities will prepare a sustainability report that includes the other three entities. The applicants submit that emissions within their value chain are better represented through a combined sustainability report at this proposed level. However, none of these entities control the other three entities. Relief was required because these entities do not (and do not propose to) prepare consolidated financial reports under AASB 10 Consolidated Financial Statements.	We were not satisfied that compliance with the relevant sustainability requirements would impose unreasonable burdens because: allowing the companies to prepare a consolidated sustainability report for a group of entities that does not prepare corresponding consolidated financial reports is inconsistent with the connected information requirements in AASB S2 Climate-related Disclosures the companies’ proposal to artificially consolidate without control does not meet the requirements for preparing consolidated financial reports under AASB 10 and relief would be inconsistent with s292A(2).	N/A	N/A
21/11/2025	s292A(1)	Company	We made an in-principle decision to refuse relief to three entities from the requirement to prepare sustainability reports for the financial year ended 31 December 2025. The entities are large proprietary companies and lodge individual Ch 2M financial reports. Relief was sought on the basis that their parent, an Australian partnership, prepare a consolidated sustainability report for the Australian corporate group. The partnership comprises three Australian incorporated entities and three foreign incorporated entities with equal interests, and as such, control is not vested in any single corporate partner. The parent prepares financial reports under a partnership agreement, and there is no legal requirement for partnerships to prepare and lodge general-purpose financial reports or sustainability reports with ASIC.	We were not satisfied that compliance would impose unreasonable burdens because: allowing the partnership parent to prepare a consolidated sustainability report for the Australian corporate group would be inconsistent with the connected information requirements in AASB S2 because it would not correspond with each of the individual entities’ financial reports and the parent does not prepare Ch 2M financial reports The partnership is not a legal entity and cannot act as a parent for the purposes of consolidation under the Australian Accounting Standards.	N/A	N/A
24/11/2025	s292A(1)	Company	We made an in-principle decision to refuse relief to an entity from the requirement to prepare a ‘standalone’ parent only sustainability report for the financial year ending 31 December 2025 (FY25). As permitted under s292A(2), the entity intended to lodge a ‘standalone’ parent-only rather than a consolidated sustainability report in FY25. The entity is the parent company of an Australian group that lodges consolidated financial reports under Ch 2M. It also had one subsidiary that is a Ch 2M reporting entity and is not required to prepare sustainability reports until the financial year ending 31 December 2026 (FY26). The entity argued that because it would be the only entity required to report in FY25, and its subsidiary would not be required to lodge sustainability reports until FY26, the administrative burden of preparing a standalone parent-only sustainability report justified relief.	We were not satisfied that compliance with the relevant sustainability requirements would impose unreasonable burdens because: the entity could have avoided the administrative costs and complexity of a ‘standalone’ parent sustainability report by preparing a consolidated sustainability report for the group in FY25 the burdens arise solely from the entity’s decision to defer consolidation for a year.	N/A	N/A
10/02/2026	s292A(1)	Company	We made an in-principle decision to refuse relief from the requirement to prepare a sustainability report for the financial year ending 31 December 2025 (FY25) and onwards to a large proprietary company that prepares and lodges financial reports under Ch 2M. Relief was sought on the basis that preparation of a sustainability report by the applicant would either: result in a misleading report because the applicant operates as a holding company with only an indirect ownership interest in the underlying operating companies and does not have operational control over those companies (a number of which are foreign-incorporated companies that operate overseas), or inappropriate in the circumstances and unreasonably burdensome because the disclosures would be partly duplicative of disclosures in the sustainability report that will be prepared under the Corporations Act by another Australian entity within its corporate group.	We were not satisfied that compliance with the relevant sustainability reporting requirements would make the sustainability report misleading, be inappropriate in the circumstances, or impose unreasonable burdens because: the financial reporting and sustainability reporting requirements in Ch 2M are intended to apply to entities that have reached a size of economic significance to the Australian economy, including holding companies that have no direct operations of their own AASB S2 requires the disclosure of material information about climate-related financial risks and opportunities that could reasonably be expected to affect the reporting entity’s prospects, regardless of where the underlying operations are located globally or the level of control that the entity has over those operations, and reporting entities are required to prepare financial and sustainability reports reflecting their own financial position, financial performance and cash flows, even where there are other reporting entities with similar financial interests or risk exposures. This may result in some duplication between different entities’ Ch 2M reports, but is not necessarily an unintended consequence of the legislation.	N/A	N/A