Government sustainability

Public sector environmental reporting

• Mandatory reporting
• Voluntary reporting

Mandatory reporting

Agencies have mandatory energy reporting requirements as part of the Energy Efficiency in Government Operations (EEGO) Policy.

Australian Government organisations must include in their annual reports information about their environmental performance and contribution to ecologically sustainable development (ESD). This is required under Section 516A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Reporting guidelines and criteria

To assist organisations meet their legal obligations under Section 516A, the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts has developed reporting guidelines:

• Criteria for determining ESD relevance
• ESD reporting guidelines
• Generic ESD and environmental performance indicators for Commonwealth organisations

Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts environmental reports are examples of how to comply with Section 516A requirements:

• Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts Section 516A reports

The Australian National Audit Office has conducted an audit of agency 516A reporting, Annual reporting on ecologically sustainable development (audit report no. 41, 2002-03)

Voluntary reporting

Some public and private sector organisations are choosing to report publicly on their environmental performance through Public Environment Reports (PER). Others are choosing to provide information about their social and financial performance in a sustainability report or a triple bottom line report. Some organisations have also entered into commitments that require reporting on performance, such as the Greenhouse Challenge.

Key developments in voluntary agency reporting include:

• The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts has produced a triple bottom line report on its operations
• The Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) has released two triple bottom line reports
• The Department of Defence published their first public environment report in 2003
• CSIRO has published occupational health, safety and environment annual reports
• The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) published a corporate social responsibility report for 2003-04
• The Global Reporting Initiative published a pilot version of their public agency sector supplement in March 2005

Some Australian Government organisations are also required to report against National Environment Protection Measures (NEPMs). NEPMs are designed to ensure consistency of environmental regulations across jurisdictions. They are also aimed at ensuring Australians enjoy the benefit of equivalent protection from air, water and soil pollution and from noise, wherever they live. More about NEPM reporting