Co-designing biodiversity market policy through research-practice integration

Dr Anke Leroux, 2025

Australian environmental markets have faced governance and integrity challenges. The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s public consultation on the Nature Repair Market offered a valuable opportunity for Monash Business School’s Green Lab to contribute addressing this real-world problem.

Drawing on interdisciplinary expertise in law, economics, and environmental policy, Green Lab co-developed a set of recommendations aimed at supporting evidence-informed policy design—promoting environmental markets that are robust, equitable, and credible.

Working within the Net Zero, Nature Positive Australian Companies project, the team drew on policy documents, market design theory and stakeholder perspectives to analyse market mechanisms and identify practical design improvements that could enhance the effectiveness of the emerging biodiversity market.

These recommendations centred on strengthening eligibility and additionality standards to ensure the Nature Repair Market delivers measurable improvements in native biodiversity and effectively incentivises new projects. They also emphasised the importance of market transparency—advocating for publicly available pricing information in line with best practice disclosure principles—and the inclusion of mechanisms to support meaningful First Nations participation.

The submission is contributing to the refinement of market rules and governance structures, helping to ensure alignment with both national and global biodiversity goals.

The process also strengthened connections with government, NGOs, and industry actors, positioning Monash Business School as a trusted source of policy-relevant expertise.

This case demonstrates how rigorous academic research can inform real-world policy development and support the creation of environmental markets that deliver measurable ecological and social benefits.