On this page
- Preparing for mandatory disclosures
- Refreshing our climate ambition
- Our current climate change goals
We believe that climate change is one of the most significant challenges we face as a society today. Climate change creates both risks and opportunities that we need to assess and understand to achieve the best financial outcomes for our members. We also need to consider how the balance of risks and opportunities may change depending on how the world responds to climate change, and how successful we are at limiting global warming.
We believe that a fair and fast transition to a low-carbon economy will generate the best opportunities for our members. This transition can support risk-adjusted investment returns, the creation of new jobs and help reduce pressure on the cost of living. Achieving this will require coordinated action by governments, businesses, investors and industry, with a focus on real emissions reduction.
Preparing for mandatory disclosures
We are currently preparing for mandatory climate-related disclosures under AASB S21. Our first climate disclosure, covering our FY27 activities, will be released in FY28.
We have scaled back external climate reporting for FY26 to focus on building the systems, processes and governance needed to meet the new requirements. We have continued to monitor relevant climate metrics and will report these internally ahead of our FY27 climate disclosure.
Refreshing our climate ambition
Following approval of our climate strategy in 2025, we established an internal taskforce to reassess CBUS’ climate ambition and our role in the energy transition. The taskforce engaged with external experts, CBUS leaders and investment teams, and considered leading research. We expect to be able to provide further updates in 2027.
Our current climate change goals
Net zero portfolio emissions by 2050
45% reduction in portfolio carbon intensity by 2030 (compared to a 2019 baseline)
Measure our allocation of capital to climate change investment
Engage with our priority climate companies
Carbon reduction goals
Our portfolio carbon reduction goals cover our Scope 1 and 2 financed emissions2, which are our share of the operational emissions of companies and assets that we finance through our investment and lending activities. At this stage we include the asset classes we are able to measure: listed equities, property and infrastructure (approximately 72% of our portfolio).
Our 2030 goal is an interim goal on our path towards net zero portfolio emissions by 2050. As our funds under management grow, measuring emissions reductions over time becomes more complex.
For this reason, we track progress using carbon intensity rather than absolute carbon emissions. This allows us to account for growth in our portfolio over time.
Carbon intensity targets have limitations, though. Portfolio carbon intensity is impacted by factors beyond company emissions (e.g. asset valuations, currency exchange) and is driven largely by changes in portfolio allocation rather than changes in real-world emissions.
Given our aim is to focus on real-world emissions reduction, we have attempted to adjust our portfolio carbon intensity to account for changes in asset valuations. However, this adjustment has become increasingly skewed the further we move from our 2019 baseline.
We continue to track our unadjusted progress against our goal.
Climate change investments
We regularly measure our exposure to climate change investments.
Climate change engagement
We use a materiality assessment to determine the companies we will engage on climate change, either directly or through participation with others. The aims of our engagements are unique to each company, but we typically seek improved governance practices, enhanced responses to climate risk and appropriate disclosures.
Responsible investing
Investing responsibly is important for our members’ long-term returns and quality of life.
Investment spotlight
We have history of investing back into our community, supporting industries that are important to our members.
1AASB S2 is the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standard, Climate-related Disclosures.
2Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from activities that a company controls (e.g. using gas for heating, emissions from fleet vehicles). Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions related to the electricity that a company purchases and uses. Emissions are created when the electricity is produced.