Competing in a Nature‑Regulated Economy | Australia
Helping Australian organisations stay ahead of environmental legislation, SBTi, and GHG Protocol
Australia’s sweeping environmental law reforms, anchored in the 2025 Environment Protection Reform Bills, signal a decisive shift in how nature is governed, valued, and accounted for in the economy.
The introduction of legally binding National Environmental Standards, tighter land-clearing controls, and the establishment of a National Environmental Protection Agency place biodiversity and ecosystems firmly at the centre of regulatory decision-making. For corporate Australia, this marks the start of a new era in which nature-related dependencies, impacts, and risks must be addressed with the same rigour as climate and financial exposures.
Climate first, not climate only
The introduction of the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards (ASRS) has put climate risk squarely on boardroom agendas. Australian companies are now building governance, data, scenario analysis, and disclosure capabilities to meet mandatory climate-related reporting requirements.
This momentum has rightly focused on the physical and transitional impacts of climate change. However, it also creates a critical foundation for the next frontier in sustainability reporting: nature-related risk. Biodiversity loss, water stress, and land-use change are increasingly recognised as core drivers of financial performance, resilience, and long-term value creation.
The economic value at risk
The economic stakes are high. Experts estimate that over half of Australia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), around AUD $900bn, is moderately to highly dependent on nature, with the remainder of the economy indirectly reliant on healthy ecosystems through complex supply chains. As biodiversity declines (with around one million species at risk of extinction within decades), supply-chain stability, raw material availability, water security, and local economic resilience come under increasing pressure.
While there are economic risks, the opportunity is significant. The World Economic Forum estimates that transitioning to a nature-positive economy could unlock US$10.1 trillion in annual global business value and create 395 million jobs by 2030. Organisations that act early can reduce risk, meet regulatory expectations, and position themselves for growth.
Global frameworks are turning insight into action
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) provides a science-based framework for identifying and disclosing nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities across governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics.
Globally momentum is building. European markets are already embedding biodiversity and water into mandatory reporting, and global baseline standards are increasingly converging around TNFD concepts. For Australian companies operating across international value chains, nature-related disclosure is rapidly becoming a license-to-operate issue.
Technical standards are reinforcing this shift from principle to practice. Recent updates to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) FLAG guidance, alongside strengthened requirements for accounting for greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change (LUC), require companies, particularly those with land-and agriculture-intensive supply chains, to quantify emissions linked to deforestation, degradation, and land conversion.
This directly connects climate target-setting with ecosystem integrity, accelerating the need to measure and manage nature-related impacts.
Start now to protect future performance
In this context, biodiversity and water must now be treated as material topics within corporate sustainability strategies. By extending ASRS climate capabilities into TNFD-aligned nature assessments, and integrating FLAG and land-use metrics where relevant, companies can move early, build capability, and minimise future disruption.
We bring deep experience supporting organisations at every stage of the journey, including:
- Biogenic emissions calculations
- Value chain mapping and supplier engagement
- Climate and nature target setting
- Biodiversity and water risk assessments
- Carbon removal and offsetting strategy
- Feasibility studies and project development
Wherever you are in your journey, we would welcome a conversation to explore how we might be able to support your company in the next frontier of environmental stewardship and reporting.
If you’re starting to think about nature-related risks, let’s talk. Get in touch with our experts Marisa Watts and Michael Cox to start the conversation.