Labor plan for nature repair market rehashes old proposal and risks failure, experts say

An Albanese government environment plan to encourage companies to invest in nature merely expands a Coalition proposal under Scott Morrison and is at risk of failing due to a lack of business interest, experts say.

The federal government is consulting on legislation to establish a scheme to incentivise investment in nature restoration by creating tradable certificates for projects that protect and restore biodiversity.

An exposure draft, published shortly before Christmas, is similarly worded to legislation proposed by the previous government and would establish governance arrangements for the scheme.

Macintosh also said there were governance issues in the draft that could create similar problems to those seen in the carbon offset market.

The former government proposed a land stewardship scheme that would reward farmers who restored and protected nature on their properties.

Beshara said he was concerned the most likely outcome was the market would become a biodiversity offset market that was by driven by nature destruction elsewhere.

An audit of the NSW biodiversity market, which functions as an offset scheme, found that scheme had serious performance and integrity concerns.

She noted a report by the consulting firm PwC had estimated a nature restoration market could inject $137bn into conservation measures by 2050.

Plibersek said all feedback on the exposure draft would be considered before legislation was introduced to parliament this year.