Assurance readiness support sits across both streams, helping you prepare for the level of assurance your reporting group requires.
Discuss your assurance pathwayAASB S2 climate reporting in Australia: what your business needs to know
Australia’s mandatory climate-reporting regime — the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards (ASRS), built on AASB S2 — is now phasing in. This guide answers the questions Australian finance and sustainability leaders ask most as they prepare their first report.
Does my company have to report under AASB S2?
If your organisation meets the size criteria for one of the three reporting groups, climate disclosure under AASB S2 is mandatory, not voluntary. Entities that lodge financial reports under Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act and meet the size or emissions thresholds are captured. If you are unsure whether you are in scope, a gap assessment settles it quickly.
What are the ASRS reporting groups and deadlines?
Reporting phases in by size, in three groups. Group 1 (the largest entities) reports for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025; Group 2 from 1 July 2026; and Group 3 from 1 July 2027. The first Group 1 and Group 2 reporting years have now begun.
- Group 1 — financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025.
- Group 2 — from 1 July 2026.
- Group 3 — from 1 July 2027.
What does an AASB S2 disclosure have to cover?
AASB S2 is built on four pillars: governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets. In practice you disclose how your board oversees climate, the climate-related risks and opportunities that affect your business, how you manage them, and your greenhouse gas emissions across Scope 1, Scope 2 and material Scope 3 — all supported by a documented basis of preparation.
Why is the first report the hardest?
The first cycle is where most of the effort sits: there is no in-house playbook, emissions data is scattered across systems and suppliers, spreadsheet processes rarely survive assurance, and the result carries your board’s signature. Getting the foundations right — a defensible baseline and a repeatable process — is what makes every later report easier.
What about assurance?
Assurance requirements phase in alongside the reporting obligation and increase over time. Preparing so that your data, judgements and processes can withstand an auditor’s review from the first year avoids expensive rework later. Below Baseline prepares you for assurance and works alongside your auditor — we do not provide assurance ourselves, and that separation is part of what keeps your disclosure defensible.
How should we get started?
Start by understanding your gap to a compliant disclosure. A fixed-fee Gap Assessment & Roadmap gives you a clear-eyed view of where you stand against AASB S2 and a practical plan for closing the gaps — usually in about three weeks, and credited in full against your engagement if you proceed.
