Nature Positive Finance and Business

Source: https://www.mq.edu.au/research/research-centres-institutes-and-initiatives/nature-positive-finance-and-business Parent: https://www.mq.edu.au/study/admissions-and-entry/apply/international/international-academic-requirements

Innovative, nature-positive business solutions

For businesses and policymakers, the Macquarie University Nature Positive Finance and Business Research Centre provides interdisciplinary, impactful research-based solutions to build a prosperous and sustainable future.

The centre brings together an interdisciplinary team of leading experts in strategy, finance, economics and sustainability. We explore how corporate strategy, capital allocation, regulatory or market mechanisms can help regenerate nature and build long-term resilience.

About us

Through rigorous research and collaborative partnerships, we provide evidence-based insights to equip business leaders, policymakers, and investors with the tools to adapt, mitigate risks, capture emerging opportunities, and embed nature-positive principles into decision-making.

Our goal is to accelerate the transition toward a more sustainable, regenerative economy – one where businesses thrive by restoring rather than depleting the natural systems we all depend on.

Businesses are central to shaping environmental outcomes, both as part of the problem and as key agents of change. As environmental concerns intensify, nature-related risks – including the physical impacts of nature degradation, as well as policy shifts and market expectations – are now recognised as both financially material and strategically urgent.

The scale of these risks is stark:

• Physical risks are already disrupting supply chains, reducing productivity and increasing input volatility.
• Pollinator loss now threatens more than 75 per cent of global food crops.
• Global wildlife populations have plunged by 73 per cent since 1970, undermining ecosystem services critical to agriculture, fisheries and water security.

Transition risks are rising as regulatory expectations intensify. An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) review found 57 per cent of Australian companies potentially engaged in greenwashing, exposing firms to legal, reputational and financial risk.

In response, new climate reporting requirements are being introduced, with compliance costs estimated at up to $1.3 million per entity and $2.3 billion annually across the economy, surpassing comparable frameworks in the US, UK and New Zealand.

At the Macquarie University Nature Positive Finance and Business Research Centre, we go beyond acknowledging these risks. Our aim is to develop actionable solutions that support a nature-positive transition in business and finance.

We aim to:

• provide decision-makers with world-leading, cross-disciplinary research on the financial impacts of global environmental change and related social challenges
• build research scale and reputation by attracting top researchers, higher degree candidates, collaborators and funding
• collaborate with like-minded partners to lead the nature-positive transition
• advance Macquarie University’s research priorities by contributing to resilient societies, prosperous economies, a secure planet and innovative technologies.

Practices, polices and progress...

Building E4A \ Macquarie University \ North Ryde NSW 2109

Study an MRes or PhD and undertake research with our centre