New Financial Year, New ESG Priorities: What’s Worth Your Attention in FY26?
A new financial year always brings that familiar mix of ambition and overwhelm. ESG is no exception. The landscape continues to evolve with new standards, new pressures, new opportunities. But here’s the truth most businesses quietly feel, there is too much noise. Everyone has an opinion on where you should focus, and the risk of spreading efforts too thin is very real.
So as we step into FY26, where should ESG leaders and business owners actually focus?
Simplify Your Strategy: Focus on What Moves the Needle
The temptation is to chase every new metric or initiative. But the most effective ESG strategies this year will be ruthlessly focused.
Ask:
Where do we have the biggest footprint?
Which risks are most material to our business?
What expectations are rising in our sector (not just globally, but locally)?
For many mid-sized businesses, especially those in community-facing industries (education, construction, healthcare, aged care, services), the high-impact areas are increasingly clear:
Supply chain transparency
Carbon data quality and action planning
Fair work, equity and workforce wellbeing
Get Ahead of Regulatory Shifts
Australia’s regulatory landscape is shifting rapidly:
The mandatory Australian Sustainability Standards are nearing full implementation.
Modern slavery due diligence expectations are intensifying, not just for reporting entities, but through supply chain pressure.
Climate reporting is aligning with global frameworks like ISSB, forcing many businesses to get serious about Scope 3 emissions tracking.
Businesses who invest early in readiness will gain the advantage: more time, more control, more credible reporting.
Resist the Performative Reporting Trap
There’s growing skepticism around ESG, particularly when reporting becomes disconnected from real business activity. Stakeholders can spot box-ticking a mile away.
This year, authenticity will matter more than volume.
The most credible businesses will:
Own both strengths and gaps.
Show real progress against meaningful baselines.
Align ESG with genuine business purpose — not generic templates.
Bring ESG Into the Heart of Leadership Conversations
Finally, FY26 is the year to stop treating ESG as a side project.
ESG isn’t ‘extra’. It’s operational. It’s financial. It’s reputational. It belongs in boardrooms, in leadership development, and in daily management conversations. The businesses that thrive will be the ones who normalise ESG as part of how they lead, decide, and deliver.
The Takeaway: This year is about clarity, not complexity.
If you’re leading ESG inside your business, you don’t need more overwhelm. You need a clear, pragmatic, tailored pathway forward.