Accounting for Nature and measuring nature repair

Greening Australia is applying the Accounting for Nature® Framework to some of our restoration projects to help us measure the impact we’re making for Australian landscapes.

The name ‘Accounting for Nature’ might seem self-explanatory at face value, but we know some of you might be wondering, “well, what exactly does that mean? Why does it matter?”

Keep reading to dive a bit deeper.

Measuring the impact we’re making through our projects is more complex than it might seem at face value. Photo credit Toby Peet.

What is the Accounting for Nature® Framework?

The model that has now become the Accounting for Nature® Framework was originally created by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. They designed it as a practical and robust method to measure changes over time in the condition of Australia’s environmental assets, such as vegetation, soils, and fauna.

Recognising the broader need for standardised, scientifically robust, credible environmental measurement, the model evolved into what is now the Accounting for Nature® Framework. It provides an independent, verified system for measuring, certifying, and communicating changes in environmental condition — enabling evidence-based nature claims and informing environmental investment decisions.

Having been tested over a decade (2008–2018) with input from hundreds of experts across multiple scales, the Framework is now regarded as one of the most scientifically credible and trusted natural capital accounting standards available.

Hold on, what is natural capital accounting, and what’s it for in the first place?

Natural capital accounting puts natural resources (e.g. biodiversity, water), and the benefits and services that ecosystems provide, into economic terms like ‘stocks’ (think ‘stocktake’) and ‘flows’. Applying this economic framing aims to prevent our natural resources and ecosystem services being undervalued or unsustainably exploited, because they are ‘free’ or ‘off the books’.

A healthy environment offers immense value that is often overlooked because it is ‘free’.

By assigning economic value to the assets, benefits and services that a healthy environment provides, industries, governments and society in general can better value nature as the fundamental basis of our lives and livelihoods. This ‘natural capital’ can be tracked in balance sheets and risk profiles and help drive more investment into stopping and reversing biodiversity loss.

The concept of integrating environmental data with economic accounts has been around for a while but it’s gaining traction as nations, businesses, and even individuals such as farmers grapple with how to maintain their economic wellbeing while also contending with climate change and nature loss.

In February 2025 the Australian Bureau of Statistics published the nation’s first experimental National Ecosystem Accounts to better support policymaking around protecting and rebuilding our natural capital.

Australia’s first ecosystem accounts show increases in pest animals and weeds across the country, as well as climbing numbers of threatened native species. Latham’s Snipe (pictured) is one of the newest species to join the national list of threatened species. Photo credit Simon Kennedy / Birdlife Australia.

How does Accounting for Nature intersect with the Nature Repair Market?

The new national voluntary Nature Repair Market, made possible by the passing of the Nature Repair Act in 2023, is intended to make it easier for investors to support nature repair projects.

They can do this by buying and trading biodiversity certificates that represent an equivalent improvement in environmental condition. It’s quite like how the voluntary side of our carbon market operates, with investors purchasing and trading carbon credits that represent an equivalent tonne of carbon emissions avoided or sequestered.

But biodiversity is incredibly complex, and we are still uncovering species and connections we had no idea existed previously. How can investors trust that the biodiversity certificates they are buying are genuinely helping repair nature and build natural capital?

This is where the Accounting for Nature® Framework and other natural capital accounting standards come in. They provide consistency, integrity and transparency for measuring and verifying whether what’s being done to repair nature is, in fact, improving the extent and condition of environmental assets.

It would be easy to assume, looking at this revegetation in South Australia, that environmental condition has improved. But transparently and consistently measuring the extent and condition of environmental assets over time can put this beyond doubt, giving investors confidence to fund nature repair outcomes.

Let’s get personal. Why is Greening Australia using the Accounting for Nature® Framework?

As an organisation driven by a mission of rebuilding nature together, the question of ‘is what we’re doing actually repairing nature?’ cuts to the heart. We need to be certain of our impact because that’s our entire purpose!

While we believe in our impact and know that our partners trust us to do good work, we can also see a big demand for verifiable nature-positive claims on the horizon. To have new investors funding our projects through the Nature Repair Market – or to verify biodiversity co-benefits from our environmental planting carbon projects with Canopy – it’s important to hold ourselves to an external standard like the Accounting for Nature® Framework and be accountable for the integrity of our work.

Given the increasing interest in biodiversity markets worldwide, it also makes sense to use a globally recognised standard, so anyone, anywhere, can confidently invest in our projects and know they are helping restore Australian landscapes.

Australian biodiversity is globally significant with many species found nowhere else on earth, but is also widely threatened – making hotspots like the Tasmanian Midlands strong candidates for global investment into nature repair. Photo credit Hayden Dib.

Our science and impact team conducted a desktop analysis of the various natural capital accounting standards currently available (there are already quite a number, and more are being developed) and decided that the Accounting for Nature® Framework is the best fit for our values and needs.

Applying this Framework means investors can be confident about the difference we’re making for nature, based on data collected using rigorous scientific methods, approved by a world-leading global certification standard.

What does this look like in real life, have you got any examples?

Because ecosystems are so incredibly complex and varied, there are many ways ‘nature repair’ could be measured. Under the Accounting for Nature® Framework, there are more than 20 Accredited Methods to do so.

For the projects we are currently working to register as environmental accounts with Accounting for Nature, we will monitor and verify improvements for nature against Accredited Methods for native vegetation, woodland birds, and aquatic fauna.

The condition of aquatic vertebrates can be assessed over time by using environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis of water samples to detect species that are present.

Taking the native vegetation method as an example, we’ll measure indicators for condition such as species richness (what diversity of trees, shrubs, grasses, forbs is present?), the presence of large trees, tree canopy height, tree canopy cover, shrub canopy cover, organic leaf litter cover, native grass cover and non-native plant cover. Plenty of data to collect!

To make verifiable claims of improving environmental condition, we need to first get our environmental accounts certified as a baseline by submitting data and technical reports, which we can choose to either have reviewed by Accounting for Nature or independently audited by a third-party Accredited Auditor. To maintain certification, this process needs to be redone at least every five years. The Framework then requires a positive change in trend through its Econd® (Environmental Condition Index) score to verify improvement claims.

Tree canopy height and cover are just a few of the many indicators measured over time when assessing the condition of native vegetation. Photo credit Jesse Collins.

Given the rigorous nature of the evaluation process, if these indicators improve over time, we will have robust evidence to show investors that our projects are helping repair nature. Through market mechanisms, these improvements could be assigned an economic value by generating biodiversity certificates, which can be bought and traded.

We’ll be sharing more detail about specific projects we have registered as we go along, so stay tuned for those updates!

Further reading

Here are some resources for thinking more deeply about Accounting for Nature, natural capital accounting in general, and measuring nature repair:

• Understanding the Accounting for Nature Framework – Anthesis Australia
• Will putting a price on nature protect it? – Sydney Environment Institute
• Can a nature repair market really save Australia’s environment? – The Conversation
• Valuing Nature: Climate action and the economy – Greening Australia White Paper

 
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