Turning a one-page climate disclosure roadmap into reality for a superannuation fund

What does it take for to be ready for a successful disclosure dry run in year zero?

A leading superannuation fund had previously worked with Baringa to produce a two-year climate disclosure capability uplift plan to improve its climate risk management in line with the Australian Accounting Standards Board’s (AASB) expectations. Budget was approved. The business had signed off on high-level commitments and brought in a project manager (PM). But the detailed task and resourcing plan had yet to be developed. And the PM hadn’t worked on a climate-related project before.

Our client’s challenge was that they didn’t know what they didn’t know. What would it look like to deliver the plan in a detailed and practical sense? What internal teams and expertise could and should be leveraged? What sort of resources (new hires, contractors, consultants) would have to be brought in? And how much would that cost?

Embedding climate in business-as-usual

Our first step was to break down each workstream into the sub-task level with clear timelines and dependencies. We added milestones to meet regulatory deadlines, decided which workstreams could be deferred or accelerated, and helped the PM make contingency plans to avoid delays or budget overruns.

We then took the resulting quarterly program plans to the business owners who’d previously agreed to each readiness task. These meetings included leaders from risk, governance, investments, data and systems – all areas where climate considerations are material. 

Our conversations were both practical and strategic. We asked leaders to decide which tasks their teams could take on as part of business-as-usual (BAU) and where they needed support from additional resources. The critical subtext was that climate is now part of their mandate and its consideration will be ongoing and eventually BAU. 

Having understood resourcing needs from the business, we provided recommendations to the PM on the best approach to hiring (ongoing needs), contracting (short-term/urgent) and consulting (specialist capabilities). 

A clear and actionable project plan

With detailed workstreams signed off by the business, the PM was able to go to the financing body to justify RFPs, contracting and hiring plans. The resourcing strategy has ensured the cost-effective deployment of internal and external expertise while balancing workload distribution. The fund now has a well-understood critical pathway to get ready for a disclosure dry run in year zero with capabilities continuing to uplift as future disclosure expectations intensify.

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