Australian insights
Nature Repair Market: Consultation on Protect and Conserve Method(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is seeking feedback(Opens in a new tab/window) on the revised scope of the Protect and Conserve method by 30 June 2026. The revised scope follows the Australian government’s environmental reforms passed in November 2025, as well as the consultation feedback and amendments to enable environmental offsets.
Second Nature Repair Market project registered(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Clean Energy Regulator has registered(Opens in a new tab/window) the second project for the Nature Repair Market Scheme. The Karinya Downs project located roughly 70 km inland of Byron Bay in Doon Doon, NSW, aims to restore 19.9 hectares of cleared land. It will restore wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest ecosystems using the replanting native forest and woodland ecosystems method with a 100-year permanence period. It also combines nature repair activities with an Australian Carbon Credit Unit Scheme project under the reforestation by environmental or mallee plantings method. This approach meets the requirements of both schemes, and supports proponents to achieve both carbon and nature repair outcomes.
Minister for the Environment and Water, Senator the Hon Murray Watt, stated(Opens in a new tab/window) that the second registered project in the Nature Repair Market showed there is confidence and growing interest in the scheme. The property will, alongside environmental repair efforts, continue to host a productive cattle breeding business. This new project means that nearly 460 hectares of land is now being restored through the Nature Repair Market.
Cracking the code on nature data to understand the impact of the ASX200(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Biodiversity Council has published a report(Opens in a new tab/window) assessing the nature-related impacts and dependencies of Australian companies listed in the ASX200. The analysis draws on data from international assessment tools, GIST Impact, MSCI, and S&P, to provide a comparative view of impacts across sectors and companies. Findings from the three tools show that the utilities, energy, materials, industrials and consumer staples sectors consistently emerge as the highest impact sectors for biodiversity loss. Financials and IT sectors, with lower direct impact, often exert significant influence on nature through capital allocation, energy and water demand, and global value chains. The analysis also found lack of data remains a significant impediment to understanding individual company supply chain impacts.
Early observations from mandatory climate reporting(Opens in a new tab/window)
ASIC Commissioner, Kate O’Rourke, addressed(Opens in a new tab/window) the Responsible Investor Association Australasia conference in Melbourne on 27 May 2026. The Commissioner recognised the scale of the change and the challenge to implement climate reporting and confirmed that ASIC will continue to work in a pragmatic and proportionate way to support implementation. The government’s Budget proposed ideas around streamlining climate-related financial discussions in the context of regulatory burden and the Commissioner confirmed that ASIC will be part of that consultation process. The Commissioner shared six early observations on climate reporting including the need to approximate the certainty of judgements and ensure voluntary reporting does not obscure mandatory disclosures. The first wave of reporting has provided a baseline for the comparability and consistency of climate-related financial disclosures. However, the Commissioner made it clear that the expectation is for reports to become better over time.
Bank Australia updates its Sustainable Funding Framework (Opens in a new tab/window)
Bank Australia has released(Opens in a new tab/window) its updated Sustainability Funding Framework(Opens in a new tab/window), which is an important step in the market application of the Australian Sustainable Finance Taxonomy. Its new framework has adopted the Australian taxonomy's criteria for residential green buildings and energy efficiency upgrades while also expanding eligible activities to drive positive impact for First Nations communities, nature and biodiversity. The updated framework supports debt instruments across both retail and wholesale formats, and pairs with Bank Australia's new Responsible Investment Association Australasia-certified retail Impact Term Deposit.
Australia’s first fully sustainable finance taxonomy-aligned Green bond(Opens in a new tab/window)
ANZ Bank announced(Opens in a new tab/window) it has supported SA Power Networks, South Australia’s electricity distribution service provider, in the issuance of its latest A$300 million 5-year Green bond, marking the first transaction to be fully aligned with the Australian Sustainable Finance Taxonomy.
Proceeds from the transaction will be allocated to eligible new and existing distribution assets aligned with the technical screening criteria set out in the taxonomy, including projects that enhance bushfire preparedness and strengthen grid resilience and reliability. The deal follows the publication of SA Power Networks’ updated Sustainable Financing Framework(Opens in a new tab/window), which enables the alignment of sustainable finance instruments with the Australian Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, reinforcing its leadership in sustainable finance.
Australia's land use future(Opens in a new tab/window)
Climateworks Centre has released(Opens in a new tab/window) a report advocating for integrated and coordinated approach to land use planning in Australia. The report includes a study undertaken in conjunction with Deakin University using spatial scenario modelling tool Land Use Trade-Offs version 2, to demonstrate that Australia can achieve climate and biodiversity priorities while maintaining a thriving agricultural sector, through a coordinated, strategic approach to land use. The report calls for leadership providing a clear, coordinated vision for land use that delivers multiple benefits while balancing competing pressures.
Carbon Neutral launches Australia’s largest environmental planting carbon project(Opens in a new tab/window)
Carbon Neutral is leading(Opens in a new tab/window) the development of what is set to be Australia’s largest environmental planting carbon project. This will be delivered in collaboration with its core partners Tiverton Global and Gondwana Link Ltd. The Great Woodlands Renewal project, adjoining Western Australia’s globally significant Great Western Woodlands region, is set to restore more than 28,000 hectares of previously cleared land through large-scale revegetation and ecosystem restoration. The project will establish an estimated 16 million native trees and support broader native understory and habitat vegetation over coming years. Carbon Neutral expects the project to support long-term protection and management of approximately 6,000 hectares of remnant woodland and other ecologically significant habitat across the broader project area.
According to Carbon Neutral, the restoration effort is expected to support biodiversity recovery while helping address long-term landscape challenges associated with altered water cycles and dryland salinity across adjoining wheatbelt regions. Carbon Neutral also expects the project to generate aproximately 3.2 million Australian Carbon Credit Unitis over its lifetime.
Future Drought Fund(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Australian Government has opened a competitive grant opportunity(Opens in a new tab/window) to select providers for the next phase of the Future Drought Fund Drought Resilience Hubs program. The refreshed program will establish seven Drought Resilience Hubs nationally, providing consistent, place-based coverage across Australia. The hubs will focus on supporting the delivery of practical, place-based support that helps farmers adopt proven drought-resilient practices, rather than duplicating existing research or policy activity. Up to $86.7 million to 30 June 2032 is available to support delivery of the next phase of the program.
This grant opportunity is open to eligible organisations and consortia with the capability to run regional Drought Resilience Hubs. Applications close on 10 August 2026. For more information on eligibility, assessment and how to apply, visit the Community Grants Hub(Opens in a new tab/window).
International insights
AFi Finance Tool(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Accountability Framework Initiative (AFi), in collaboration with Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), has launched the AFi Finance Tool(Opens in a new tab/window). It is a practical resource to help financial institutions that provide capital to companies involved in the production or sourcing of agricultural and forestry products. The tool supports users identifying risk exposure, assess company performance, and prioritise and guide engagement where action can have the greatest impact addressing the challenges of deforestation, conversion and associated human rights abuses.
The AFi Finance Tool has two components:
- Criteria and Data References (Excel Workbook)
This workbook supports assessing company performance by applying a structured set of 30 criteria alongside benchmarked data from sources including CDP, GRI, Forest 500, and Forest IQ. The tool is cross-referenced with the PRI Spring Company Assessment Framework and supports both company-level and portfolio-wide assessments. - Stewardship Guide (PDF)
This guide outlines a clear three-step process to help financial institutions prioritise and guide engagement with portfolio companies, supporting more targeted and effective stewardship activities.
Watch the webinar recording(Opens in a new tab/window) introducing the tool and exploring how financial institutions can use it to assess and engage their portfolios to understand and reduce risk.
Links between nature and climate and the implications for financial decision-making(Opens in a new tab/window)
Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) have published new guidance(Opens in a new tab/window), as part of its nature guidance series(Opens in a new tab/window), highlighting the links between nature and climate and the implications for financial decision making.
The A4S guide, which is intended to support CFOs and finance teams, highlights that climate change and nature loss are deeply interconnected and must be addressed together in financial decision-making. Treating them separately can lead to incomplete risk assessments, missed opportunities, and unintended trade-offs. It stresses that nature restoration is critical to achieving net zero goals, and that integrating nature and climate considerations provides a more holistic view of risks, impacts, and performance.
The A4S guidance supports organisations to embed these links across core financial processes, including risk assessment, strategy, scenario analysis, investment decisions, and reporting, enabling more informed and effective decision-making.
Knowledge brief on biodiversity credits and the forestry sector(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA) has published a knowledge brief(Opens in a new tab/window) exploring how forestry actors can engage both as suppliers of biodiversity outcomes and as buyers supporting landscape-scale conservation. The forestry sector can act as an important tester of high-integrity biodiversity credit approaches as it combines high biodiversity value, large spatial scale, establish management systems and familiarity with carbon and nature markets.
BCA states that biodiversity credits do not replace existing forestry standards. Certification and biodiversity crediting methodologies are complementary mechanisms with credits intended to recognise and finance demonstrable improvements in biodiversity conditions that go beyond compliance and standard management expectations.
The brief emphasises that outcomes depend on strong principles of quality, integrity and equity, as forestry can both drive biodiversity loss through degradation and conversion, and deliver measurable gains through habitat restoration, threat reduction, and long-term stewardship.
Scaling up private action for nature(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published a report highlighting the critical role of private sector action to halting and reversing biodiversity loss and promote the sustainable use of natural resources. The report emphasises that the private sector both depends on and impacts biodiversity, especially in nature-intensive industries such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, mining, tourism, infrastructure, and textiles. Current production and consumption patterns in these sectors are driving deforestation, ecosystem degradation, and pollution, resulting in systemic economic risks including declining productivity, disrupted supply chains, and stranded assets.
The OECD report states that development co-operation can scale up private action for biodiversity in developing countries via three complementary and interlined entry points: strengthening enabling environments, increasing private sector engagement, and mobilising private finance.
Groundswell Film(Opens in a new tab/window)
From Friday 5 June, the Groundswell Film(Opens in a new tab/window) will be available to watch on Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios. Narrated by Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson, from the directors of Kiss the Ground and Common Ground, this Golden Globe winning documentary shows how farmers, ranchers, scientists, changemakers and Indigenous leaders are using regenerative agriculture management practices to restore the planet one acre at a time.