What
The Government of Australia has developed a Nature Positive Plan which sets out the Government’s commitments to reforming national environment laws to better protect, restore, and manage the environment. Within this plan, the Government is developing a Nature Repair Market to make it easier for businesses, organizations, governments, and individuals to invest in projects to protect, manage, and restore nature on private land.

Potential sources of private sector demand include philanthropy, environmental NGOs, impact investing, investments in sustainable supply chains, and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)-motivated investment. Parties looking to co-invest in biodiversity projects and green equity funds will also be important. For example:

• An Impact investor may purchase certificates in the market with the aim of investing in biodiversity conservation.

• A farmer may look to co-invest in biodiversity projects on their land to diversify revenue streams and increase on-farm productivity and resilience.

• A multinational company may purchase certificates in the market to highlight their commitment to nature repair and achieve nature finance related commitments.

Goal
Provide a legislative and regulatory mechanism for private sector investment in nature repair, protection and conservation, science-based and underpinned by features to delivery transparency and integrity. Landowners will be given opportunities to participate by undertaking method-led registering projects on their land, thereby offering new revenue streams to landowners to fund nature restoration. The Market also aims to provide opportunities for First Nations people and communities to participate in projects on Native Title Land, and to be involved in the co-design of biodiversity methods.

Recent activities
The Government has published a Nature Positive Plan, which outlines the intention to develop the Nature Repair Market. The Nature Repair Act 2023 was passed by the Australian Parliament in December 2023. The science-based design and development of the market is ongoing.

Benefits
By developing a science-based, transparent, government regulated market for investment in nature repair, the initiative will facilitate private sector financial flows to high-integrity nature repair, management, and protection projects. It is designed to meet the needs of private sector demand, which is being fueled by: the development of international nature-related reporting and financial disclosure standards; growing shareholder pressure in some sectors to invest in nature- and climate-positive activities; global supply-chain investment in biodiversity conservation; and increasing recognition of the need to mitigate nature and climate related financial risks. The Market can support farmers and other landowners, including First Nation peoples and communities on Native Title Land to diversify income from and land and improve local biodiversity.

Lessons learned
A independent review of the Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Pilots (a program which tested how markets can be used to increase private sector participation in delivering biodiversity outcomes) was undertaken to identify lessons applicable to the development and implementation of the Nature Repair Market. The review highlighted the various barriers to entry for landholders and opportunities to better enable landholder participation in environmental markets. These and other lessons from the review will help inform the design and development of the Nature Repair Market.

Synergies with other 10 Point Plan Points
5 – Private Sector Alignment

Relevant links and resources
Please look at Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) website for further updates:
Nature Repair Market
How the Nature Repair Market would operate