Australian insights
Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024-2030: Implementation Plan(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Australian Government has published(Opens in a new tab/window) the implementation plan for Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024-2030. The implementation plan provides guidance for action across society, government and all sectors and seeks to foster cooperation, coordination and partnerships to deliver outcomes for nature that no single jurisdiction or organisation could accomplish alone. Rather than prescribing every step, the plan sets the direction and invites everyone to determine how they can contribute. The implementation plan outlines the outcomes that the government want to achieve for each target and enabler of change by 2030, highlights current actions and identifies areas of future focus to build on existing efforts. The actions are grouped by timeframe, short-term (deliver results by 2028), medium-term and long-term (work up to 2030 and beyond). Short-term actions include a commitment to continue developing tools and guidance to support the voluntary uptake of nature-related financial reporting. Through the Nature Positive Matters initiative, the Australian Government will work with partners to embed nature in decision-making processes.
Priority Actions for Financing Adaptation & Resilience(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI), peak body for Australia’s sustainable finance sector, has released ‘Priority Actions for Financing Adaptation & Resilience’(Opens in a new tab/window), an outcome report summarising dialogue as part of Climate Action Week Sydney 2026. ASFI’s report identified four interconnected areas shaping the flow of capital into adaptation and resilience, spanning how outcomes are valued, the strength of market infrastructure, the ability of projects to attract investment and how capital is mobilised across the system. Expanding the Australian Sustainable Finance Taxonomy to define adaptation and resilience activities will be a key enabler, supporting more consistent identification, assessment and financing across the system.
ASIC partnership delivers sustainability reporting e-learning modules(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has partnered with the Accounting Standards Board (AASB), the University of Technology Sydney and educational design agency Studio 3 Learning to develop e-learning modules(Opens in a new tab/window) to assist entities in understanding and applying the foundational concepts behind the climate-related reporting requirements in the Corporations Act 2001. While the modules are primarily aimed at Group 2 and 3 entities commencing reporting from or after 1 July 2026, the materials are relevant to anyone looking to build capability in this area.
New climate-related disclosure requirements have been introduced in Australia. Large entities and financial institutions are required to prepare an annual sustainability report containing climate-related disclosures for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025. The report must be prepared in accordance with the sustainability reporting requirements in the Corporations Act 2001 and AASB S2 Climate-related Disclosures, lodged with ASIC and given to shareholders or members alongside the annual financial report.
Court makes landmark decision after illegal logging in NSW state forest(Opens in a new tab/window)
NSW Forestry Corporation has been sentenced(Opens in a new tab/window) for illegally logging nine centuries-old giant trees in Wild Cattle Creek State Forest, north of Dorrigo on the state's mid-north coast, in 2020.
Instead of receiving a fine, the logging company has entered into a restorative justice process with a local Aboriginal corporation aimed at preventing future offending. The NSW Land and Environment Court sentenced the NSW Forestry Corporation to pay $450,000 to Yurruungga Aboriginal Corporation. The funds will go towards projects including a healing ceremony, the development of a biological repair plan and cultural mapping of the area to prevent future harm.
The Environmental Defenders Office said the case could be referenced by First Nations groups across the country.
International insights
Global forestry companies gather to pursue forestry natural capital accounting(Opens in a new tab/window)
The International Sustainable Forestry Coalition shared(Opens in a new tab/window) details of global forestry leaders gathering in Tokyo to identify metrics to measure and report on ecosystem services provided by sustainably managed forests. The Tokyo session, which builds on Part 1 of the Forestry Natural Capital Accounting project where seven ecosystem services were identified and prioritised for the pilot, focussed on defining how these services can be consistently measured and valued across geographies and forestry management systems.
‘Measuring ecosystem services and reflecting them in balance-sheet terms allows businesses and investors to see the full value sustainably managed forests create,’ said Rayne van den Berg, Project Lead at Value Australia (Capitals Coalition).
Canada’s new nature strategy(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, has launched(Opens in a new tab/window) Canada’s new nature strategy. With an investment of CA$3.8 billion, Canada’s new nature strategy will protect and restore critical habitats, ensure industrial strategies complement Canada’s conservation efforts, and mobilise new capital for nature. New measures will be introduced to protect nature, implement comprehensive mapping, environmental data collection, avoid and minimise environmental impacts of development across Canada, and to value and mobilise capital for nature. The Canadian government will launch an Expert Taskforce on Natural Capital Accounting and Nature Financing to explore how to better account for the value of nature and how to integrate it into decision-making. It will also recommend new policies, incentives, and financing tools that encourage businesses and investors to support conservation.
Value Balancing Playbook(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Value Balancing Alliance has published(Opens in a new tab/window) a playbook to provide companies with a practical approach to embedding impact value accounting into strategy and operations. The playbook is intended to support leaders in navigating tensions between short-term performance and long-term resilience, financial returns and societal outcomes, and competing strategic priorities under uncertainty. In doing so, it moves sustainable value creation from aspiration into the core of management practice, strengthening strategic decision quality and enabling organisations to deliver resilient long-term value in a changing environment.
Join the conversation - Global Survey on evolving economic system(Opens in a new tab/window)
The Capitals Coalition, with GlobeScan, is running a 10-minute global consultation(Opens in a new tab/window) on the evolving global economic system. This research will provide insight into new ways of conceiving and building value across the world. The survey will inform the Capitals Coalition’s Trends & Foresight 2026–27 work and is intended to capture a wide range of perspectives. Survey participants will gain exclusive early access to findings from this study.
Roadmap to unlock private capital for peatland restoration in Europe(Opens in a new tab/window)
Landscape Finance Lab, a not-for-profit focusing on increasing finance for sustainable landscapes, has released(Opens in a new tab/window) a roadmap for financing the restoration of European peatlands, supported by the European Investment Bank. Peatlands are terrestrial wetland ecosystems, similar to mangroves in ecological function. When degraded, peatlands are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, but when restored, they deliver emissions reductions and benefits for water, biodiversity and resilience. The paper estimates that 1.1 million hectares of peatland restoration is deliverable in the next decade, with a minimum capital requirement of 2 billion euros, however, the peatland restoration has not yet attracted private capital at scale. The paper highlighted that achieving scaled investment requires coordinated action across stakeholder groups to raise awareness, aggregate projects, and support use of project-finance structures in peatland restoration.