Compliance guide
ESG Statement Template for Australian Businesses
An ESG statement summarises how your business manages its Environmental, Social and Governance responsibilities. This guide gives you a template structure, examples, and what supplier portals expect. Need one today? Get a portal-ready ESG PDF.
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Key takeaways
- ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance, the three pillars of responsible business.
- An ESG statement is a concise document setting out your commitments and actions across those three pillars.
- Supplier portals such as Felix, Avetta and CM3 frequently ask vendors for an ESG or sustainability statement before onboarding.
- Build one from the template below, or get a tailored, portal-ready ESG/CSR statement from ESG Complete for AU$499.
What is an ESG statement?
An ESG statement is a short, structured document in which a business describes how it manages its environmental impact, its relationships with people and community, and the way it is governed. It's the practical, business-facing cousin of a full sustainability report.
For Australian SMEs and subcontractors, an ESG statement is usually requested by larger customers or supplier portals rather than required by law. It needs to be credible and specific, not a page of buzzwords.
The three ESG pillars
Environmental
How your operations affect the natural environment: energy use, emissions, waste, water and resource efficiency.
Social
How you treat people: health and safety, diversity and inclusion, fair labour, modern slavery, and community engagement.
Governance
How your business is run: ethics, anti-bribery and corruption, risk management, data protection and accountability.
ESG statement template structure
Use this outline. For an SME, a paragraph or two under each heading is enough.
- About this statement, your business name, ABN and the purpose of the statement.
- Environmental commitments, your goals and current practices for energy, waste and emissions.
- Social commitments, your people, safety, diversity, and supply-chain/modern-slavery stance.
- Governance commitments, ethics, compliance and how decisions are made.
- Standards & frameworks, any standards you align to (ISO 14001/45001, GRI, SDGs).
- Review, who owns the statement and how often it's updated.
How to write your ESG statement
Follow these steps to produce a credible statement.
- 1
Audit what you already do
Note your existing practices across environment, people and governance, recycling, safety, fair pay, ethical conduct.
- 2
Pick a recognised framework
Decide which standards you'll reference (e.g. ISO 14001, GRI, the UN SDGs) to anchor your claims.
- 3
Write concise commitments
Under each pillar, state a few specific, achievable commitments rather than broad aspirations.
- 4
Add measures where you can
Include any numbers you have, recycling rates, incident counts, training hours, to add credibility.
- 5
Approve and date it
Have it signed off, dated, and assign an owner and review cycle, then provide it to portals as needed.
Write it yourself vs done-for-you
Both are valid routes to a portal-ready statement.
| DIY from this template | ESG Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | AU$499 inc GST |
| Time | A few hours | ~10 minutes of input |
| Aligned to standards | If you research them | Yes, ISO, GRI, SDGs |
| Portal-ready formatting | Your responsibility | Yes, professional PDF |
| Revisions if rejected | On you | Two free revisions |
Get a portal-ready ESG statement
A tailored ESG/CSR statement aligned to ISO, GRI and the SDGs, built to be accepted by Felix, Avetta and CM3. Usually delivered within the hour.
Sustainability Statement (CSR / ESG)
ESG, CSR and anti-slavery in one compliant PDF, built for supplier portals. (AU$499 inc GST)
Get started->Modern Slavery Statement
A standalone, portal-ready Modern Slavery Statement for vendors who only need this one document. (AU$159 inc GST)
Get started->