Submission to the Australian Government’s Nature Repair Market Bill

The Australian Government is developing a nature repair market to encourage investment in biodiversity and drive environmental improvements across Australia. ASFI supports the government developing a robust, high-integrity market framework that would enable funding and investment in nature protection, restoration, and enhancement, with the ultimate objective of achieving net positive gains for Australia’s natural environment.

The development of a nature market framework is necessary but not sufficient to redirect financial flows towards nature positive outcomes. Equally important to determining whether the nature repair market will ultimately drive nature positive outcomes aligned to the Bill’s objectives and catalyse demand for nature repair markets and activities are:

•  The enabling regulatory environment which needs to be established, including the combination of effective environmental protection regulation; clear legislated conservation and restoration targets, support for nature-related corporate disclosures; and the use of blended finance mechanisms to de-risk and crowd in private capital at scale.

• The design features of the market, which should be robust, high-integrity, transparent, and usable.

• Careful consideration of the market “uses” of the nature repair market units, particularly while the market is in its nascency and market demand for investment in nature positive outcomes is shallow.

You can find the full submission here.