Nature as an Asset Class
When the 2025–26 Federal Budget quietly referenced Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024–2030, it was easy to overlook. But for those paying attention to the future of investing, it was recognition that nature is no longer just an environmental consideration. It’s becoming a central pillar of financial risk management, long-term planning, and capital allocation.
So what is this Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024 - 2030 document?
This report is not about greenwashing or feel-good optics. It’s about how Australia – and the world – is reframing biodiversity as both a systemic risk and a source of long-term value creation.
What is the Strategy?
Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024–2030 is the country’s current national biodiversity and conservation plan. It sets out how we will contribute to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including the headline goal to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and to be living in harmony with nature by 2050.
But beyond the report’s environmental ambitions, the Strategy signals a deeper shift: the economic system is being retooled to account for nature. The decline of ecosystems is no longer viewed as an unfortunate side effect of growth. It is being recognised as a direct threat to financial stability, economic productivity and national wellbeing.
For investors, this is a new frontier – and one that demands attention.
The Economic Case for Nature
According to the report, it’s estimated that over 50% of Australia’s GDP depends on nature. This includes industries like agriculture, fishing, tourism, energy, insurance and water infrastructure – all of which rely on functioning ecosystems, stable climates and predictable weather patterns.
Biodiversity loss is now understood as a material financial risk, capable of disrupting supply chains, raising input costs, fuelling regulatory and reputational challenges, and triggering catastrophic losses through ecosystem collapse. From a portfolio perspective, exposure to biodiversity-related risks is real – and rising.
The Strategy places this front and centre. It links biodiversity directly to economic performance and sustainability. It frames nature as infrastructure – essential to productivity, trade and long-term asset value.
Key Targets – and Their Investment Implications
The Strategy includes six national targets, all aligned with global biodiversity benchmarks. Each presents both a risk lens and an opportunity lens for capital markets.
No new extinctions
This target reflects the need for greater investment in species protection, habitat restoration and ecological research – areas where blended finance, philanthropy, and government co-funding can play catalytic roles.30 by 30
Committing to protect 30% of Australia’s land and marine areas by 2030 means scaling conservation finance and investing in natural capital assets, such as Indigenous Protected Areas, marine reserves, and conservation covenants. These will need funding, management and measurement frameworks – ripe for innovative financing models.Restoration of degraded ecosystems
The restoration economy is growing. Projects in reforestation, wetland repair, blue carbon, regenerative agriculture and coastal rehabilitation will become targets for green bonds, nature-based solution funds and biodiversity credit schemes.Control of invasive species
Invasive species cost Australian agriculture and conservation sectors billions annually. Investing in early detection, biosecurity technology, and coordinated land management is not just a cost-saving exercise – it’s a business opportunity for ag-tech, biotech and resilience-oriented funds.Climate resilience for biodiversity
The Strategy explicitly calls for nature-based solutions to climate change. This includes protecting forests, peatlands, mangroves and seagrasses that sequester carbon while buffering extreme weather. Expect increasing links between climate and biodiversity investment strategies, particularly around adaptation finance.Circular economy and pollution reduction
Transitioning to a circular economy will demand significant investment in waste infrastructure, product redesign, material innovation and pollution control. It also presents openings in clean-tech, ESG-aligned manufacturing, and sustainable logistics.
Enablers: Why This Isn’t Just a Wish List
Crucially, the Strategy doesn’t rely on good intentions. It embeds three systemic enablers to support delivery:
Mainstreaming nature into decisions
Nature is to be considered in financial, regulatory and planning decisions. This supports uptake of frameworks like the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), which will soon become a baseline for credible ESG reporting.Supporting Indigenous leadership
Projects that ignore or exclude Traditional Owners are fast becoming reputational liabilities. Conversely, Indigenous-led stewardship and governance is being recognised as a key factor in project success, risk management and social licence.Improving environmental data
Environment Information Australia and the Biodiversity Data Repository will provide consistent, accessible biodiversity data – critical for valuation, risk modelling, disclosures and investment benchmarking.
This is a far cry from the fragmented datasets of the past. It lays the foundation for a trustworthy natural capital market.
Why It Still Matters – Especially in 2025
The reference in the 2025–26 Budget is not just symbolic. It reflects a growing alignment between environmental and economic policy. Nature is now seen as a macroeconomic issue, much like climate.
The government is backing this with:
Support for the Nature Repair Market – a mechanism to scale private investment into biodiversity regeneration
Progress on the Sustainable Finance Roadmap and Green Bond Program
National environmental-economic accounts that quantify natural capital on the balance sheet
Hosting the Global Nature Positive Summit – attracting global capital and signalling Australia’s leadership in nature finance
Sure we would have liked more to be announced on the night. But it is a start.
In short: biodiversity is no longer a footnote in sustainability reports. It’s moving to the executive suite and the investment committee. As result investors shoiuld also be aware of this too.
What Should Investors Do?
Start assessing nature-related risks and dependencies now, using the TNFD’s (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) LEAP framework (Locate, Evaluate, Assess and Prepare).
Align investment products with the six national targets – particularly those focused on restoration, nature-based climate solutions, and circular economy infrastructure.
Engage with Traditional Owners early and meaningfully.
Support data and disclosure initiatives, which will underpin credible measurement and verification.
Stay alert to regulatory changes, especially around nature-positive law reform and sustainability reporting.
The Bottom Line
Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024–2030 is more than a biodiversity plan. It’s a structural economic reform agenda – one that treats ecosystems as foundational to prosperity.
If climate risk was the wake-up call of the last decade, nature risk is the frontier of this one. And for investors who understand that resilience, value and impact are now intertwined – this strategy offers both a warning and a roadmap.
References
1 “Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024 - 2030”, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, September 2024, https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/conservation/publications/australias-strategy-for-nature
Important Information
EnviroInvest Pty Ltd ACN 685 107 957 (“EnviroInvest”) is an Authorised Representative of Daylight Financial Group Pty Ltd ACN 633 984 773 (“DFGPL”) which is the holder of an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFS Licence No. 521404).
Information in this commentary is current as at date prepared unless otherwise stated. However, please bear in mind that investments can go up or down in value, and that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. For more Important Information please refer to the Disclaimer section of this website.
This communication may contain general financial product advice. It has been prepared without taking into account your personal circumstances, and you should therefore consider its appropriateness in light of your objectives, financial circumstances and needs before acting on it.
If our advice relates to the acquisition or possible acquisition of a particular financial product, you should obtain a copy of and consider the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making any decision.