The Act requires certain entities that prepare annual financial reports under Chapter 2M of the Act to also prepare an annual sustainability report to accompany the financial report. 

The sustainability report for a financial year consists of:

1. the climate statement for the year required by the Sustainability Standards;
2. any notes to the climate statements required by the Sustainability Standards or a legislative instrument made by the Minister under subsection 296A(4);
3. any statements and notes relating to other financial matters concerning environmental sustainability required by a legislative instrument made by the Minister under subsection 296A(5); and
4. the directors’ declaration about the statements and the notes.^[1]

Paragraph C3 in Appendix C of the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standard AASB S2 Climate-related Disclosures (AASB S2) provides that an entity is not required to provide comparative information in the first annual reporting period that it applies that standard.

The Act requires:

1. Sustainability reports for financial years commencing on or after 1 July 2030 to be audited.^[2]
2. The Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB) to make auditing standards for financial years commencing 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2030 that specify the extent to which information in the sustainability report must be audited and/or reviewed.^[3]

This standard uses the terms auditor, audit and review which are consistent with the Act. For the avoidance of doubt, the following terms used in the AUASB’s Standards are to be read as having the same meaning as the terms used in the Act shown in the table below when conducting an audit or review of information in a sustainability report: