NewsBite

Biodiversity

October

Protesters in front of the Federal Court as it heard a claim against Santos. The company was successful and has restarted work on the Barossa gas project.

EDO expert on Indigenous culture says he’s ‘just a white fella’

The Federal Court ultimately rejected the arguments made by the Environmental Defenders Office and allowed Santos to develop the $5.8 billion gas project.

  • Max Mason
Gina Rinehart, the billionaire executive chairman of Hancock Prospecting, has long been critical of environmental regulation.

Gina Rinehart slashes plans for next big mine as ESG factors hit

The billionaire businesswoman has dramatically scaled back the proposed Mulga Downs iron ore project by 40 per cent to overcome environmental concerns.

  • Peter Ker
Koalas are listed as endangered in NSW, the ACT and Queensland.

Queensland’s koala farmland fund hits fund-raising trail

Upscale Funds Management is targeting $6.6 million for its Koala Farmland Fund 2.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

July

South32’s Worsley mine in Western Australia.

Environmental rules threaten survival of South32’s Worsley refinery

More than $1b was wiped off the value of South32 as it cut production guidance and warned forest protection rules threatened the future of a WA alumina refinery.

  • Updated
  • Peter Ker

June

Kate Turner of First Sentier says that while the importance of nature is intrinsically understood, it’s harder to account for it in a financial sense.

Nature the next frontier but boards lack skills

Biodiversity is critical for maintaining a liveable planet, but a deficit of skills at the board level is proving a roadblock in accounting for its value.

  • Lucy Dean
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The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) are located in the United States, along the coast of northern California.

Why we should embrace tall-tree tourism

Only 34 per cent of the world’s surviving forests are old-growth ones, and many are under threat. If California’s Redwood National Park is anything to go by, there is hope, however.

  • Ute Junker

May

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek introduced the new environmental laws on Wednesday.

Plibersek’s new environment laws friendless

Business, conservationists, the Greens and key crossbenchers have all criticised Labor’s plans for a new Environment Protection Agency.

  • Tom McIlroy

April

“You have to make a choice between cats and wildlife,” says Katherine Moseby of Arid Recovery.

These researchers are training native wildlife to fear feral cats

If Australia’s vulnerable species are to survive, they need to learn how to spot danger.

  • Emily Anthes
Graeme Samuel: “We’re going through a complex process.”

‘Take a chill pill’: Graeme Samuel urges calm on environment law delay

Former competition tsar Graeme Samuel has urged conservation groups to “take a chill pill”, and for miners to stop talking “rubbish” on plans to overhaul federal environment laws.

  • Updated
  • Phillip Coorey
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has come under fire from all directions over nature positive reforms.

Internal Labor group chides Plibersek on nature-positive ‘vacuum’

A Labor green group says reforms to environmental laws are an Albanese “election commitment” on an issue Labor members have campaigned for nearly a decade.

  • Jacob Greber and Tom Rabe

February

A giraffe at Murchison Falls National Park in northwestern Uganda on Jan. 13, 2023.

There may be millions more species than we realise

As DNA testing creates new ways of defining species, scientists can’t agree on how many there are.

  • Carl Zimmer

December 2023

No more oil and gas production can be developed around the rivers and floodplains of the Lake Eyre Basin in Queensland.

Santos bears brunt of Queensland ban on gas projects in Lake Eyre Basin

Days before Christmas, the state has ruled out future oil and gas production in the rivers and floodplains areas in the ecologically important region.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
ACSI chief executive Louise Davidson warns that funds expect it to be “challenging” for executives to get bonuses rather than “business as usual”.

Make it harder for CEOs to get big salaries, bonuses: super funds

Executives should only get bonuses for outperformance, and not for business as usual, the Australian Council for Superannuation Investors says.

  • Hannah Wootton

November 2023

Australian banks have $47bn of loans for livestock agriculture, the sub-sector with the biggest impact on nature.

Directors urged to get advice as nature risk turns liability

A groundbreaking legal opinion says company directors who fail to consider the toll on nature could be in breach of their duty of care and diligence obligations.

  • James Eyers

October 2023

University of NSW senior lecturer Megan Evans says an offset market won’t help restore nature.

Biodiversity credits aim to help repair nature

The government is seeking to establish a nature repair market, with biodiversity credits creating a new asset class for investors.

  • Christopher Niesche
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September 2023

New disclosures standards on the impact of corporate activity on nature are expected to be integrated into global accounting rules.

New business guidelines aim to help firms account for impact on nature

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures released its final rules on nature risk, which will force banks to understand the effects of lending.

  • James Eyers

August 2023

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Ken Henry has a dire warning on this forgotten issue

Ken Henry’s environmental warnings are arguably more dire, more imminent, more urgent, more troublesome and a great deal less hypothetical than the need to address a gradually shifting tax base.

  • Phillip Coorey
Farmer Paul Lewis (third from left) is among landholders in Hawkesdale, western Victoria, who oppose the Willatook wind farm.

Brolga rules could threaten more wind farms

Several more wind farm proposals in Victoria’s south-west corridor could be foiled or at least scaled back if rules for protecting brolgas are strictly applied.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith

July 2023

Auke-Florian Hiemstra studies nesting materials in his lab.

Birds building nests from anti-bird spikes are ‘outsmarting us’

Magpies in Belgium are saying, “Thanks, humans,” as they adapt to the availability of artificial materials.

  • Emily Anthes

April 2023

Banks including CBA and ANZ are developing a marketplace to deliver the government’s plan to create a national biodiversity credit trading system.

CBA is creating a market for ‘nature repair’

As the Nature Repair Market Bill is examined by a Senate committee, the nation’s largest bank says its work with the RBA could help design the new marketplace.

  • James Eyers

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/biodiversity-jpe