‘Positioning capital for the economy ahead’: Anna Skarbek AM speaks at 2026 ACSI Conference

An edited extract of Anna Skarbek AM’s remarks on 17 March 2026 at the 2026 Australian Council of Superannuation Investors Conference in Sydney, Australia.  

It is fitting that this climate session follows sessions on AI and modern slavery and how funds and boards are implementing those strategies, because I will be focusing on the normalisation of net zero, and how that is now happening through corporate climate transition plans. 

These draw on frameworks and skills that you all use and learn in MBAs and AICD programs – to set a goal, make a plan, allocate governance KPIs and management resources to engage with workers, stakeholders, suppliers and customers. 

This is now occurring for net zero, through corporate climate transition plans.

The question investors are asking today is not simply ‘do you have a target?’ but ‘do you have a credible plan to get there?’.

Today Climateworks Centre is launching a briefing paper examining how Australian super funds are using corporate climate transition plans in investment decision-making.

We found that transition plans no longer only sit in sustainability teams.

Transition plans are increasingly being used to:

• assess whether companies are future-ready
• differentiate companies within sectors
• guide stewardship and engagement

And I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not long until we see investors using climate transition plans for their negative and positive screening.

‘No company transitions alone’

Transition plans also highlight something important: no company transitions alone.

Companies soon realise the success of their transition plan depends on the transition of others in their sector.

Which is why sector pathways matter. They are the government’s equivalent of the corporate transition plan.

National policy now includes the Net Zero 2050 Plan and six Net Zero Sector Plans. Any company transitioning will touch more than one of those Sector Plans – Energy, Industry, Buildings, Transport, Agriculture & Land, Resources.

So that requires multi-stakeholder collaboration. This is also something that has been done before. It will require boards and funds to measure how your team’s transition plan is also supporting progress of the sector’s transition plan.

Companies can read guidance on how to measure this in the Climateworks guide to credibility for corporate climate transition plans.

Diversification and active management benefit

Australia’s superannuation system has delivered strong outcomes for members through long-term diversified and active portfolios.

Research from colleagues at the Monash University Centre for Financial Studies shows that diversification and active investment strategies added around 1 percentage point of return per year for super fund members in recent decades but this has declined in recent years due to index hugging.

Much of that value came from active investment and diversification beyond listed markets, including infrastructure, private markets and other long-duration assets. Positively for the climate transition, many of the climate solutions are in those sectors.

Looking ahead, many of the opportunities shaping the next phase of the economy sit in areas like energy systems, industrial transition, infrastructure and emerging technologies.

These opportunities often do not sit in traditional market benchmarks.

Which raises an important question for the system:

Are our financial frameworks aligned with the economy we are investing in, or are we still measuring portfolios primarily against the structure of the past economy?

Because if portfolios are pushed too close to existing benchmarks – index hugging – we risk losing some of the diversification performance advantage that has historically delivered strong returns for super fund members.

Your Future, Your Super

This is also why the current review of the Your Future, Your Super performance test matters.

Over the past few years, markets have built a significant amount of climate intelligence.

• Mandatory climate disclosures are now underway.
• Transition planning guidance is emerging.
• The Australian Sustainable Finance Taxonomy has been released.
• And investors are increasingly using that information when assessing assets, companies and sectors.

But there are situations where acting on that information can create problems with benchmark-based performance tests.

We know that there are climate-aligned investment products (we helped create one that Aware Super invested in, and we’ve studied many overseas), but we also know that proponents of these face ‘tracking error’ against the benchmark. 

So the portfolio decision may be based on forward-looking information, but the performance comparison is still anchored to yesterday’s economy.

That tension is part of the conversation now underway in the Your Future, Your Super performance test review.

I know there are mixed views in this room about this reform, and across the sector. I see that the options being discussed look at a simpler option, CPI + margin. 

Climateworks has looked at this to ask, can it [CPI + margin] achieve climate-aligned investment? Yes it can. Is that guaranteed? No it’s not. But it would reduce a barrier, and also enable more of the diversification benefits that I mentioned earlier to be maintained. 

If benchmarks reflect today’s economy, which is built on yesterday’s economy, it hinders the forward direction that you’re all seeking to head with your company’s climate transition plans.

Three points to leave you with:

1. Transition plans are increasingly informing how investors assess companies and sectors.
2. Sector context matters – because no company transitions alone. Be proactive in supporting your sector’s transition to improve the resilience of your own.
3. As the economy evolves, investment frameworks and policy like Your Future, Your Super  need to evolve with it so that long-term capital can continue to support the next phase of economic growth.

The Treasurer has opened the review of the Your Future, Your Super performance test. This is the moment for investors, policymakers and regulators to engage and land a framework that protects member outcomes as the economy evolves. 

The window is open to ensure the investment test framework ensures we are positioning capital for the economy ahead rather than measuring portfolios against the one we are leaving behind.

Access the briefing paper: Corporate climate transition plans in the Australian superannuation industry

Access the guide: The Climateworks Centre guide to credibility for corporate climate transition plans