Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100190
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$379,729.00
Summary
The effectiveness of impact investing for biodiversity conservation. This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of impact investing for biodiversity conservation. Over $150 billion of private capital is invested worldwide to deliver social and environmental “impact” alongside a financial return. Impact investing promises “win-win-wins” for investors, governments and biodiversity alike, but also risks exacerbating accountability failures, transaction costs and conflicts of interest within hi ....The effectiveness of impact investing for biodiversity conservation. This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of impact investing for biodiversity conservation. Over $150 billion of private capital is invested worldwide to deliver social and environmental “impact” alongside a financial return. Impact investing promises “win-win-wins” for investors, governments and biodiversity alike, but also risks exacerbating accountability failures, transaction costs and conflicts of interest within highly complex governance networks. This project seeks to discover factors that enable or inhibit the effectiveness of impact investing using a governance perspective. Project outcomes are expected to inform how impact investing may be harnessed to improve biodiversity conservation while minimising perverse outcomes.Read moreRead less
Improving the potential of biodiversity offsetting to reconcile development and conservation: will good environmental outcomes counterbalance the bad? Attempts to reduce conflict between development and conservation are increasingly reliant upon environmental offsetting: generating an environmental benefit to compensate for environmental damage elsewhere. However, whether different offset approaches can achieve their goal of ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity is unknown. By building simulations of th ....Improving the potential of biodiversity offsetting to reconcile development and conservation: will good environmental outcomes counterbalance the bad? Attempts to reduce conflict between development and conservation are increasingly reliant upon environmental offsetting: generating an environmental benefit to compensate for environmental damage elsewhere. However, whether different offset approaches can achieve their goal of ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity is unknown. By building simulations of the long-term biodiversity consequences (both intended and unintended) of current offset approaches, This project aims to test how each approach and associated sources of uncertainty influence the long-term persistence of biodiversity. It will identify limitations of biodiversity offsetting, shed new light on the most effective approaches, and help develop global standards for offsetting biodiversity loss.Read moreRead less