Comprehensive Report: Sustainability Practices of ASX Listed Companies

This report delves into the sustainability practices of Australian companies, focusing on ASX-listed entities and their commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. It examines the reporting mechanisms, including disclosures of material risks and management strategies, as well as the impact of sustainability on company performance. The report analyzes the practices of ten specific Australian companies, such as Brambles, CSL, Telstra, and others, highlighting their initiatives and achievements in areas like waste reduction, environmental responsibility, and corporate governance. A comparative analysis with UK-listed companies is also included, emphasizing the global trend towards sustainable business practices. The findings underscore the importance of sustainability for long-term corporate survival and growth, with recommendations for stronger board involvement and alignment of sustainability strategies. The report concludes that companies following sustainable practices and reporting periodically demonstrate a greater capacity for long-term success.

Running Head: ACCOUNTING RESEARCH PROJECTS
ACCOUNTING RESEARCH PROJECTS
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review..................................................................................................................................2
Analysis of ASX Listed Companies..................................................................................................2
Comparison with Other Country.......................................................................................................4
Findings.................................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion & Recommendations..........................................................................................................5
Refernece...............................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Sustainability is important issue for the corporate world today. All across the globe, currently
sustainability has been burning issue and it is the major causes of concern. Over last decade, interest
of investors in the socially responsible investment has substantially increased. Moreover,
sustainability is having great potential for influencing the entity’s performance. It is explained as
meeting needs of the today without compromising ability of future generations. Designing robust
strategy of the business is increasingly becoming dependent on the way organizations positions itself
in terms of the sustainable development that helps in balancing environmental, financial and
development of human. Corporate sustainability as well as its impact on the performance of company
has emerged as key areas for research in the recent years (Martinez-Conesa, Soto-Acosta and
Palacios-Manzano 2017). Hence, the aim of this assignment is to understand sustainability of the
Australian companies.
Literature Review
Analysis of ASX Listed Companies
The listing rules of ASX and “Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations” are
two most important provisions of reporting for the listed companies of Australia. The listed
companies of Australia are required to disclose, whether they have been exposed to any kind of
material, social or environmental risks and they manage them. Further, the rules of listing requires the
companies for disclosing the way they meet recommendations and where they are not meeting and
they are also required for disclosing reason for the divergence. Over 80% of the reporting provisions
in the Australia are concerned at least party with the issues of environment, with the changes in
climate and pollution or emission being second as well as third most prevalent areas of subject
respectively, behind the accountability of corporate. Following are the sustainability reporting made
by ASX listed companies:
 Brambles Limited: This company continues to consistently achieve higher score in the
reputable surveys of investors, receiving the recognition as leader of ESG. It creates better
supply chains through helping the customers for delivering essentials of life ion the
sustainable way. In comparison with the previous year, in 2019 transition has been done by
company of customer from the one-way or single-use packaging to the reusable packaging. It
helps in eliminating the waste and reducing demand on the natural resources that accelerates
evolution to the circular economy. As the result of which, the performance of Brambles
Limited has been improved considerably (Brambles Corporate Site. 2020).
 CSL Limited: This company is committed towards conducting the operations according to
highest standards of the corporate social responsibility. In comparison to the last year, CSL
Limited has achieved level four out of five in new indicator of underwater noise performance

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of the program of Green Marine environmental certification. It has continued serving their
customers in accordance with highest standard of ethics, safety as well as environmental
responsibility. The sustainability concerns of company include sustainability governance,
health and safety, improving of air quality, protection of ecosystems and biodiversity, positive
workplace, value for their customers, corporate ethics, community engagement and supply
chains and resource conservations. The company’s focus towards sustainability has helped in
achieving its financial performance over the years (Cslships.com. 2020).
 Telstra Corporation: The purpose of Telstra has helped in creating brilliant connected future
for each and every one. Its strategy is aimed to help the people to thrive in digital world. This
is consists of targets and the initiatives for addressing opportunities and the impacts in
relation to the four priorities of Sustainable development goals. Telstra is committed towards
achieving equality of gender, creating decent work and growth of economy, assisting the
society and customers towards lower carbon future and becoming more resilient towards the
change in climate (wpengine.netdna-ssl.com. 2019).
 Harvey Norman: The history, experience and values of company describes the way company
works for delivering lasting and real benefits for owners and wider communities in which
they operate. This company cares for their employees, care and respect for environment,
while rehabilitating and operating land. The company contributes towards fair share to the
national and local economies, which is done more transparently. Hence, these beliefs are
foundation of the views on sustainability (CSR information for Harvey Norman Holdings.
2020).
 Macquarie Group: The commitment of ESG reflects responsibility to the communities,
shareholders and clients in which it operates. The company believe that the clear dialogue
with its stakeholders is vital for building strong relationships, enhancing performance and
maintaining trust. The purpose, strategy and vision of Macquarie underpin the approaches to
sustainability. The purpose of the company is feeding all the Australians for helping them to
lead happier and healthier lives. It is committed towards healthy and quality products in
responsible and ethical way as well as company has reduced impacts of environment across
the business. Further, in comparison with last year, in 2019, increase in sustainability
practices, performance of company has increased over the years (Macquarie.com. 2020).
 Amcor Limited: The packaging of Amcor Ltd. preserves and protects beverages, food,
medical, pharmaceutical and personal-care products around the world. They are committed
towards achieving better end use results for the packaging for keeping it out of environment.
In comparison with last year, growth of company has been increased in 2019 with the
increase in sustainable way (Assets.ctfassets.net. 2020).
 National Australian Bank: As the major bank of Australia, it takes the role in community in
serious way. The company sets commitments and targets for achieving better social and

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business outcomes. In 2019 bank has reviewed oil and gas sector. This review has considered
various scenarios of climate change for both physical and transition risk. Further, customer
plans and strategies and their alignment to Paris agreement two-degree Celsius goal of
climate. The bank has considered trends of industry and exposures of NAB Group to these
group. As the result of this outcome, bank decided for not financing oil extraction projects
and gas and oil projects within the area of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or any other
similar Antarctic Refuge. NAB is one of the major performer Australian bank (Nab.com.au.
2020).
 Aristocrat Leisure: The sustainability disclosures of Aristocrat are based on social,
environmental and governance issues, which are meaningful to the business as well as
stakeholders. It reflects company’s values and mission for bringing joy to the life by power of
play and broader commitment towards transparency. In 2019, detailed assessment of
materiality has helped the company for shaping agenda of sustainability and scope of these
particular disclosures (Aristocrat.com. 2020).
 Transurban Group: In this company, different processes are used to identify material issues
for the reporting, which includes standards of GRI, stakeholder’s feedback and UN
Sustainable Development Goals (Transurban.com. 2019).
 Santos Limited: The board as well as leadership team of Santos drives strategy and
operations of company within framework of highest standards of sustainability and corporate
governance. The day-to-day operations of company are carried out according to safety, health
and environment standards and the code of conduct of company ensures that responsibilities
are understood and continuous improvement are encouraged (Santos.com. 2020).
Comparison with Other Country
In comparison to Australia, the sustainability practices of UK listed companies are also
committed towards sustainability practices. Approx. 75 percent of the businesses of UK have feeling
that they are having major role to play for delivering “United Nations Sustainable Development
Goals”. As per the survey conducted by HSBC on more than nine thousand entities from across
world, consisting of one thousand entities based in UK, has been found that almost three-quarters of
the British entities believe that they are having major role to play for delivering of “sustainable
developmental goals”, with around 28 percent has belief that their role in sustainability is more
significant (Wijethilake 2017). The main reasons of these entities choosing for becoming more
sustainable is improving of operational efficiency, meeting regulatory standards and gaining
reputational advantages. In order to become more sustainable, the more significant pressures come
from employees, regulators, government and competitors. These UK listed entities are incorporating
the goals of the sustainability into their models of business and strategic objectives as they strive for

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making changes in future. These entities believe that practice of sustainability is having positive
impact of businesses (Environment Journal. 2020).
One of the example of UK listed entity that follows sustainability practice is British American
Tobacco. This company believes that responsible behavior culture is more relevant in the today’s
world. They are having major role to play in order to deliver with the integrity. They believe that
sustainable investment in communities of farming and continued focus on the issues, for instance
protection of human rights, responsible marketing as well as excellence in the environmental
management means that the company is in excellent shape for the future (Bat.com. 2020).
Findings
It has been found through analysis that the practices of sustainability have become now need
of all entity in order to survive. It helps these entities for survive in the long-run. Not only this, proper
disclosures and following of sustainability practices helps the company for improving their
performance. Moreover, it has been analyzed that all the given 10 ASX listed entities are fully
committed towards following sustainable practices and they report this through their disclosures
periodically. Lastly, the comparison between sustainability practices of ASX listed entities and other
country such as UK listed companies indicates that both the country and its listed entities are
committed towards sustainable practices.
Conclusion & Recommendations
Therefore, this report concludes that those entities, who follow the practices of sustainability
and issues its report periodically, they have greater scope to survive and grow in long-run. The aim of
this research paper was to focus on sustainability practices of ASX listed entities. Hence, this report
has analyzed the sustainability practices followed by these entities and the way their performance is
affected by these disclosures. It has been found out that these entities are highly committed towards
serving their communities and leading their organizations in the sustainable way. Further, listed
entities of Australia and UK are committed to follow and report sustainable practices. The limitations
of this study are that only ten companies are chosen as a sample, therefore, if the sample would be
large then may be the result would be different. It is recommended that boards of the company should
play strong and active role in the sustainability and secondly, the management of these companies
should make sure that company’s strategy and efforts of sustainability are aligned.

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Refernece
Aristocrat.com. 2020. SUSTAINABILITY – Aristocrat. [online] Available at:
https://www.aristocrat.com/sustainability/ [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].
Assets.ctfassets.net. 2020. [online] Available at:
https://assets.ctfassets.net/f7tuyt85vtoa/4MJVhRWWstldLyyNHt1dFY/93a8af747a3b66089efbbed11
8f42af7/Sustainability_Review_V11_AW_Digital.pdf [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].
Bat.com. 2020. British American Tobacco - BAT’s 2018 Sustainability Report underlines Group’s
commitment to Transforming Tobacco. [online] Available at:
https://www.bat.com/group/sites/UK__9D9KCY.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DOBA9JRV [Accessed 10
Feb. 2020].
Brambles Corporate Site. 2020. Sustainability. [online] Available at:
https://www.brambles.com/sustainability [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].
Cslships.com. 2020. [online] Available at:
https://www.cslships.com/sites/default/files/csl_sustainability_report_2018_english.pdf [Accessed 9
Feb. 2020].
CSR information for Harvey Norman Holdings. 2020. CSRHub - Sustainability and Corporate Social
Responsiblity (CSR) ratings on over 32,412 of the world’s largest public and private companies.
[online] Available at: https://www.csrhub.com/CSR_and_sustainability_information/Harvey-Norman-
Holdings [Accessed 14 Feb. 2020].
Environment Journal. 2020. UK businesses are leading the way to sustainability, survey suggests -
Environment Journal. [online] Available at: https://environmentjournal.online/articles/uk-businesses-
are-leading-the-way-to-sustainability-survey-suggests/ [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020].
Macquarie.com. 2020. Environmental, Social & Governance | Macquarie Group. [online] Available
at: https://www.macquarie.com/us/about/company/environmental-social-governance-esg [Accessed
14 Feb. 2020].
Martinez-Conesa, I., Soto-Acosta, P. and Palacios-Manzano, M., 2017. Corporate social responsibility
and its effect on innovation and firm performance: An empirical research in SMEs. Journal of cleaner
production, 142, pp.2374-2383.
Nab.com.au. 2020. [online] Available at:
https://www.nab.com.au/content/dam/nabrwd/documents/reports/corporate/2018-sustainability-
report.pdf [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].

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Santos.com. 2020. [online] Available at:
https://www.santos.com/media/3312/2015_sustainability_report.pdf [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].
Transurban.com. 2019. [online] Available at: https://www.transurban.com/content/dam/transurban-
pdfs/01/sustainability-reports/FY19-Sustainability-Data.pdf [Accessed 31 Dec. 2019].
Wijethilake, C., 2017. Proactive sustainability strategy and corporate sustainability performance: The
mediating effect of sustainability control systems. Journal of environmental management, 196,
pp.569-582.
wpengine.netdna-ssl.com. 2019.1u0b5867gsn1ez16a1p2vcj1- [online] Available at:
https://1u0b5867gsn1ez16a1p2vcj1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Bigger-
Picture-Report.pdf [Accessed 31 Dec. 2019].

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Links of Annual Report
Bramble
https://www.brambles.com/Content/cms/pdf/2019/Brambles_2019_Annual_Report.pdf
CSL
https://www.csl.com/-/media/csl/documents/annual-report-docs/csl-ltd-annual-report-2019-full.pdf?
la=en-us&hash=AC57DA1C6E85B66162B25238509C47596E1CA401
Telstra Corporation
https://www.telstra.com.au/content/dam/tcom/about-us/investors/pdf%20F/2019-Annual-Report.PDF
Harvey Norman
http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReports/PDF/ASX_HVN_2018.pdf
Macquarie Group
https://static.macquarie.com/dafiles/Internet/mgl/global/shared/about/investors/results/2019/
Macquarie-Group-FY19-Annual-Report.pdf?v=9
Amcor Limited
https://assets.ctfassets.net/f7tuyt85vtoa/3TpBK6DXV7IBiEBbQ8g40Q/
cedfc2f34b9840bd503c6475108f6b79/Amcor-Annual-Report-10-K-2019.pdf
NAB
https://www.nab.com.au/content/dam/nabrwd/documents/reports/corporate/2019-annual-financial-
report-pdf.pdf
Aristocrat Limited
https://ir.aristocrat.com/static-files/e97ce5b6-3289-4fd5-aa51-efca73f1c9e2
Transurban Group
https://www.transurban.com/content/dam/investor-centre/04/2019-Corporate-Report.pdf
Santos Limited
https://www.santos.com/media/4651/2018-annual-report.pdf

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Appendix
Brambles Annual Report
CSL

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Telstra Corporation

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Harvey Norman

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Macquarie Group

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Amcor Limited

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NAB

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Aristocrat Limited
Transurban Group
Santos Limited