A warm farewell to Sarah Wood, whose outstanding contributions to public policy consultations have left a lasting mark on CSPC and our climate and sustainability policies.

We were delighted to welcome Somya Ohri (Co-Chair of Accounting Standards and Reporting Initiatives Sub-committee), Andy Siu (Co-Chair of Education Sub-committee), Calise Liu (Co-Chair of Public Policy & Regulatory Liaison Sub-committee), Oliver Wood and Rhys Williams (Co-Chairs of Research Sub-committee) to the committee.

APRA has released the results of its Insurance Climate Vulnerability Assessment (CVA), a prudential stress test exploring how a changing climate could affect home insurance affordability and the insurance protection gap over the coming decades. The Insurance CVA draws on the affordability metric developed in a series of research published by the Institute, in which the most recent report can be found here.

APRA will provide background and key insights from the Insurance CVA and will discuss the implications for households and the financial system on 16 June.

We encourage all members working in, or curious about, climate and sustainability to explore the Climate and Sustainability Resource Centre and the Climate and Sustainability Learning Resource.

The Learning Resource includes an introductory course on actuarial contributions to the practice area, while the Resource Centre brings together the CSPC's public policy statement, quarterly newsletters and key papers from government, industry and international actuarial bodies.

The 2026/27 Federal Budget introduced structural reforms aimed at improving resilience and strengthening economic and social foundations over the long term. The Treasurer has framed this Budget around the twin themes of resilience and reform, centred on intergenerational fairness as a defining priority.

In the climate and sustainability space, the Budget outlines a range of initiatives covering clean energy, disaster resilience and adaptation, water reform, environment protection and biodiversity, emissions reduction, electric vehicles and climate-related financial disclosures.

The Institute supports the Evidence Platform's intent to monitor adaptation and mitigation outcomes rather than actions alone. We highlight the need for greater investment in climate adaptation and resilience, and suggest refinements to the proposed metrics and platform use.

The Institute supports the NCC reform's ambition to deliver safe, quality buildings cost-effectively. Our submission reflects the need for efficient investment in building resilience and energy efficiency. Housing affordability should consider not only construction costs, but also ongoing energy costs and post-disaster repair, often reflected in insurance premiums.

The Institute supports the proposed SEPP and its objective to "future-proof" communities against climate-amplified natural hazard risks, viewing it as a critical complement to the NCC. With floods and coastal hazards among Australia's most severe and escalating risks, we recommend an explicit principle of no new residential development in high-risk hazard zones.

The International Actuarial Association (IAA) has published International Standard of Actuarial Practice 8 (ISAP 8). ISAP 8 provides guidance to actuaries performing professional services relating to climate-related financial disclosures under IFRS S2, issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board.

The standard supports convergence in actuarial practice, builds public confidence in climate-related disclosure work and reinforces the IAA's commitment to globally comparable, investor-useful sustainability disclosures.

Actuaries working on climate-related analysis or disclosures are encouraged to read the document.

The CSPC is now working on adapting the ISAP 8 into Practice Guidance for Australian actuaries. Please forward any feedback relevant to adoption in Australia to the CSPC Professional Practice Sub-committee at stephanie.wong2@suncorp.com.au for consideration.

The IAA also held its semi-annual meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 9-13 May. The Climate and Sustainability Committee (CSC) met and discussed its 2026 work, which includes carbon and energy markets, financial reporting and building relationships with key supranational organisations like the IPCC.

The CSC:

• Voted to approve the final version of IAN 200 (an educational document to assist actuaries in complying with the requirements in IFRS S1 and S2 standards, as well as ISAP 8), which will be formally released shortly.
• Gave presentations on the IFoA’s Planetary Solvency initiative, climate risk reporting in China, how geopolitical risk may impact decarbonisation efforts and actuaries' climate index projects in several regions, including the Institute’s AACI.
• Discussed the creation of a Taskforce on how catastrophe models are adapting to a changing climate.

The New Zealand Society of Actuaries has published practical guidance on identifying and quantifying Anticipated Financial Impacts (AFIs) — a required disclosure in many climate reporting frameworks, including the Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Standards.

The Society of Actuaries Research Institute Catastrophe & Climate Strategic Research Program Steering Committee issued a call for essays to explore programs that build resilience against climate impacts, compare expected costs vs savings, measure how well programs perform and highlight what was learned.

As part of Climate Action Week Sydney, the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI) partnered with IAG to convene stakeholders from across banking, insurance, investment, government and research to highlight the escalating physical climate risks that Australia is facing and examine how Australia can finance climate adaptation and resilience at scale.

Ramona Meyricke presented as an Institute spokesperson and co-lead author of the recent report, Mobilising Investment for Climate Adaptation. A consistent theme emerged across the discussion: Capital is available, but it is not consistently reaching adaptation and resilience opportunities. ASFI has published a report drawing on insights from this cross-sector convention.

The AASB and CSIRO collaborated to produce a high-level comparison of key differences between the two Greenhouse Gas Protocol Standards applied in the context of AASB S2 and the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Scheme.

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has agreed to propose requirements for nature-related disclosures in the form of an IFRS Practice Statement. When a company needs to provide information about nature-related risks and opportunities in accordance with IFRS S1, the Practice Statement would explain how to do this.

The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), in partnership with TechnologyOne, has released a report highlighting mounting pressure on Australia’s environmental approvals system. The report estimates that around $278 billion in housing and clean energy construction depends on Australia’s environmental approvals system, but growing complexity, workforce constraints and outdated processes are putting project delivery at risk. Artificial intelligence and better use of data can help address these challenges.

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and Engineers Australia recently updated a chapter in the Australian Rainfall and Runoff: A Guide to Flood Estimation (ARR), which is one of the most widely used references to assess flood risk for the built environment.

The Net Zero Commission has released a report delivering rigorous analysis into the impact of extreme heat and humidity in NSW.