In short:
Many consulting firms are already fielding climate reporting-related requests from clients. The challenge is that demand often extends beyond a firm’s core expertise or available capacity.
Climate reporting increasingly requires specialist knowledge across carbon accounting, climate risk, governance, scenario analysis and disclosure requirements. Building and maintaining expertise across every area is not always practical.
For many firms, the question is no longer whether clients will need climate reporting support, but how to access the capability and capacity required to deliver it.
What’s next?
Firms that can scale specialist expertise in line with client demand will be better positioned to strengthen client relationships, expand service offerings and respond confidently to increasingly complex reporting requirements.
Extending reporting capability for new client expectations
Expanding climate reporting requirements are creating new expectations for the consultants and advisors supporting Australian organisations. While emissions reporting remains relevant, many clients are now seeking support across a broader range of climate-related requirements.
Demand for technical expertise is growing across climate risk, governance, scenario analysis, materiality and disclosure obligations. For consulting firms, this presents both an opportunity and a challenge.
Firms must determine how best to respond to growing demand for advisors to help navigate complex reporting requirements, without compromising service quality or overextending internal resources.
Climate reporting is becoming increasingly multi-disciplinary
Effective climate reporting increasingly requires expertise across multiple technical disciplines, particularly when organisations are managing complex operations, supply chains and reporting obligations.
Many consulting firms have strong expertise within their core discipline. However, climate reporting often spans multiple technical areas that may sit outside a firm’s traditional service offering.
Depending on the client’s requirements, support may be needed across areas such as:
- Carbon accounting
- Climate risk
- Governance
- Materiality assessment
- Scenario analysis
- Financial disclosures
- Reporting frameworks
- Audit and assurance readiness
A firm may be highly experienced in governance, sustainability strategy or environmental management but less comfortable supporting emissions inventories, scenario analysis, materiality assessments or disclosure requirements. Others may have the technical knowledge in-house but lack sufficient local resources to support growing client demand.
Whichever it may be, accessing specialist support can help fill technical gaps while allowing firms to maintain ownership of client relationships and continue delivering value to their clients.
Internal capability is not always the challenge – capacity often is
Many consulting firms already possess strong advisory capability and experienced teams. However, internal capability is not always the primary challenge.
Client demand can fluctuate. Reporting deadlines can create peaks in workload. Specialist expertise may only be required for particular projects and recruiting permanent specialists is not always commercially viable.
So, the question for many firms is not whether they have expertise in-house, but whether they have enough capacity to meet client demand when it matters most.
This is where flexible technical support can provide additional capability without requiring long-term changes to internal resourcing structures.
Common pressures can include:
- Increased workload during reporting periods
- Competing client deadlines
- Resource constraints across project teams
- Difficulty maintaining specialist expertise that may only be required periodically
The build, hire or partner decision
Consulting firms are increasingly faced with a strategic decision: build capability internally, recruit specialist expertise or establish partnerships.
Building capability internally can provide long-term benefits, but it often requires significant investment in training, development and internal resources. It can also take time to develop expertise across the full spectrum of climate reporting requirements.
Hiring specialists may provide dedicated expertise, but recruitment can be challenging. The talent pool is limited, recruitment costs can be significant and maintaining utilisation levels may not always align with project demand.
Partnerships offer a different approach.
Partnerships are not about replacing internal capability. They are about enhancing it.
By partnering with specialist providers, firms can:
- Access specialist expertise when required
- Scale support up or down depending on project demand
- Maintain ownership of client relationships
- Extend service offerings
- Collaboratively solve complex client challenges
- Fill capability gaps without increasing fixed overheads
For many firms, partnering provides a practical way to respond to changing client requirements while continuing to focus on their core strengths.
Common areas where firms seek specialist support
Consulting firms are being asked to support increasingly technical climate reporting requirements, as client expectations evolve.
Common areas where firms may seek specialist support include:
- Climate reporting readiness assessments
- Scope 1 and 2 emissions inventories
- Quantifying scope 3 emissions
- Climate and transitional risk assessments
- Materiality assessments
- Climate scenario analysis
- Reporting assurance preparation
Complex supply chains and emissions processes can present particular challenges. Clients may require detailed analysis, technical methodologies or reporting approaches that extend beyond a firm’s existing service offering or available resources.
For many consulting firms, these are familiar conversations. The challenge is often not recognising the need but having access to the right expertise at the right time.
What consulting firms should be thinking about now
Consulting firms should consider client’s increasingly tehcnical expectations and whether existing capabilities are sufficient to support future requirements.
Key questions to consider include:
- Are clients already requesting climate reporting support?
- Which services are most in demand?
- Where are capability gaps emerging?
- What specialist expertise would strengthen client outcomes?
- Are partnership arrangements already in place?
- Are clients asking climate reporting questions your team cannot confidently answer?
- Are reporting requests becoming more technically complex?
Answering these questions can help firms better understand where additional capability, capacity or specialist support may be required.
How Losee Consulting supports partner firms
Losee Consulting works alongside consulting, advisory and professional services firms as an extension of their team, providing specialist climate reporting expertise when additional capability or capacity is required.
Rather than replacing existing teams, Losee supports firms through collaborative delivery, technical input and flexible project support that strengthens client outcomes while allowing firms to maintain ownership of their client relationships.
Support can be tailored to suit project requirements and may include:
- Flexible engagement models
- Project-based support
- Technical specialist input
- Overflow capacity during reporting periods
- Collaborative delivery
- Support for complex reporting requirements
- ‘White-labelled’ consulting
For firms operating across Queensland or interstate, access to local support can also be an important consideration when competing with locally based firms.
As a Brisbane-based team, Losee Consulting provides accessible local support, local knowledge and flexible engagement options that can help firms respond to client requirements without the need to build every capability internally.
This approach can be particularly valuable for infrastructure firms, environmental consultants and advisory businesses supporting clients across Queensland and beyond.
Closing thought
The firms best positioned to support clients will be those that understand where specialist expertise is required, where partnerships can add value and how to scale capability in line with client demand.
Flexible specialist support for complex climate reporting requirements, contact Losee Consulting today.
We can help your firm strengthen service offerings, support client outcomes and respond confidently to changing market expectations.
Have further questions?
Contact the team at Losee Consulting for more information or guidance on how to comply with the new mandatory climate reporting requirements.
Scott Losee
BES, MPhil, MEIANZ, GAICD, ISAP
30+ years’ experience, Scott specialises in sustainability, carbon and energy advice, and climate adaptation. As founder and director of Losee Consulting, he brings senior leadership experience from both private and public sectors. He has led sustainability and energy strategies for major infrastructure projects, supports decision-making, develops tools, and engages stakeholders across organisations.