ENTERPRISE BARGAINING
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WORKFORCE CHANGE
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LEADERSHIP TRANSITION
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ESG DISCLOSURE
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ENTERPRISE BARGAINING | WORKFORCE CHANGE | LEADERSHIP TRANSITION | ESG DISCLOSURE |
Communications strategy for climate and sustainability disclosure
ESG DISCLOSURE
Mandatory climate reporting is widely treated as a compliance burden. The organisations that will benefit most are the ones that treat it as a communications opportunity — a chance to demonstrate to investors, employees, and the market that their engagement with climate risk is strategic, not perfunctory. Highett Partners provides the communications counsel, strategy and narrative that makes that case credibly.
The challenge.
Compliance with AASB S2 is the floor. How you communicate what you disclose — to investors, employees, customers, and the broader market — determines whether mandatory reporting becomes a reputational asset or a source of ongoing vulnerability.
Australia's mandatory climate reporting regime is now active. Group 1 entities are reporting. Group 2 entities — with revenue above $200 million, assets above $500 million, and more than 250 employees — begin reporting from financial years starting 1 July 2026. ASIC has confirmed it will begin reviewing sustainability reports from 2026.
Most organisations approaching their first AASB S2 report have invested heavily in the technical compliance work — data collection, scenario analysis, governance documentation, assurance engagement. The question that receives far less attention is how the disclosed information will land with the audiences who read it, and whether the narrative is consistent with what the organisation has said publicly in other contexts.
The risk is real in both directions. Over claiming in the communications around a disclosure invites greenwashing scrutiny from ASIC and from activist investors. Under claiming — disclosing conservatively but communicating nothing — misses the opportunity to demonstrate genuine strategic engagement with climate risk to the market.
Highett Partners provides the AASB S2 communications strategy that sits around the compliance work. We do not prepare the technical sustainability report. We ensure that what is disclosed is risk managed across other communication and engagement touch points and is credible, defensible, and consistent with the organisation's broader narrative.
WHAT WE DO
Our role in your ESG and climate disclosure communications.
We work alongside your legal, assurance, and sustainability advisory teams to develop the communications strategy that surrounds and supports the disclosure. Our work covers three areas.
DISCLOSURE NARRATIVE STRATEGY
We develop the narrative framework for how the organisation presents its climate position — what story the disclosure tells about the organisation's understanding of climate risk, its strategic response, and its progress against stated targets. This narrative must be consistent with financial reporting, with investor communications, and with what executives have said publicly.
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS
We advise on how the disclosure is communicated to different audiences — investors and analysts, employees, customers, and the broader community — recognising that each audience will read the same disclosure differently and needs the narrative translated into terms relevant to their relationship with the organisation.
CONSISTENCY AND DEFENSIBILITY REVIEW
Before a sustainability report or climate statement is released, we review the communications dimension — checking for inconsistencies with prior public statements, identifying language that could attract greenwashing claims, and advising on how to present areas of genuine uncertainty or limitation without undermining the overall credibility of the disclosure.
"The gap between what an organisation discloses formally and what it communicates informally is not a grey area.
That is where greenwashing claims begin.
HIGHETT PARTNERS · ESG DISCLOSURE
WHAT IS AT STAKE
Unlocking value through ESG disclosure.
ESG disclosure is now a regulated communications event for many enterprises, not a voluntary one. For those where it is not yet mandatory, it is simply good business and good practice. The communications risk sits at the intersection of regulatory exposure, investor relations, and public credibility.
Regulatory scrutiny
ASIC has made clear that sustainability reports are subject to the same accuracy standards as financial statements. False or misleading climate disclosures carry significant penalties. The communications layer — what is said in press releases, investor briefings, and CEO statements about the disclosure — is part of that regulatory frame.
Investor confidence
Institutional investors are now sophisticated readers of climate disclosures. A disclosure that is technically compliant but poorly communicated — one that buries material risk, presents targets without credible pathways, or uses language inconsistent with actual business strategy — will be noticed by analysts and reflected in how the organisation is assessed.
Greenwashing risk
The gap between what an organisation discloses formally and what it communicates informally is where greenwashing claims originate. An executive interview that describes ambitions beyond what the sustainability report supports, or a marketing campaign that is inconsistent with disclosed targets, creates exposure that careful legal drafting alone cannot prevent.
Who engages us for ESG disclosure communications strategy.
Highett Partners’ referral and collaboration partners for ESG disclosure communications counsel are often, CEO., CFO and company secretary — the roles with direct accountability for the sustainability report — alongside the Head of Corporate Affairs, CSO, CMO and General Counsel for the broader communications strategy. We are often introduced through the accounting or advisory firm managing the disclosure preparation.
This service is most valuable for organisations approaching their first mandatory AASB S2 report, for Group 2 entities preparing for their July obligation, and for organisations simultaneously managing a restructure or leadership transition that intersects with their first climate disclosure cycle — a combination that is increasingly common.
We work as a defined communications layer alongside the technical advisers, not as a replacement for them.
Our scope is the narrative and the stakeholder communications, not the data or the assurance.
Completing ESG reporting?
We should talk now.
If you have completed your ESG reporting, a confidential conversation costs nothing.
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