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The intent of the Nature Repair Market Bill is to provide a framework for a market that supports an increase in private sector investment in restoring and protecting nature. How well does the draft Bill support this intent?
The Bill goes part way to supporting this intent. Transparency and integrity will be critical in ensuring investor confidence. The online registry infrastructure is necessary to give transparency in tracking the life of a credit. Eco-Markets Australia on-line registry is operational and can be viewed as an example. The ability to 'stack' investments will also be important to investors - that will require consistency in unitization eg. credits which can be stacked through different investments - carbon credits, reef credits, bio diversity credits etc. Inconsistent unitization will make it difficult for investors to stack their investments in the future. The ability to have a carbon co-benefit measured and verified as part of all investments will be attractive to investors as we continue on the journey to low emissions. For example the capacity to be able to invest in their area of interest (for example a reef credit if they are interested in contributing to reef health) and also achieve a carbon co-benefit. This is a significant opportunity for Australia given our depth of biodiversity. For farmers to engage in environmental markets, we need to be able to develop many viable options in methodologies and schemes so that there is choice for businesses to participate in what is best fit for them. The process around developing methodologies ideally will be robust, appropriately peer reviewed and trialed before being made available to the market, but will also enable industry engagement, leadership and participation in the space. As we develop in the nature repair and environmental market space it is important to create an operating environment conducive to supporting sustainable farming, strong regional communities and good environmental outcomes. The Bill would be wise to include periods of review and reflection to enable and ensure it keeps pace with a fast changing market so as not to hold innovation and best practice back.
