Recent Publications

GRDC has released a public version of our strategy review regarding risks and opportunities for Australia's grains sector from environmental markets, TNFD, and related matters.

A quick overview is available in the GRDC's "Groundcover" magazine here: 

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/innovation/climate/ecosystem-services-present-opportunities-and-risks

The full report is on the GRDC website here:

https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/all-publications/publications/2024/ecosystem-services-markets-risks-and-opportunities-for-australian-grain-growers

April 24: Dr Liz has prepared this discussion paper comparing biodiversity credit prices (in $USD) for credit products generated under various global frameworks.  Having brought the underlying parameters (area, time, conservation outcome) to a common basis, Liz finds a very wide price range, from $0.2 to $1,100 USD per year (or $7 to $41,000 USD per 100 years). 

We estimate a mean price of $236 USD per year ($8,800 USD per 100 years) and median price of $20 USD per year ($750 USD per 100 years).  But clearly there are very different levels of "quality" in the global biodiversity markets.

Jan 2024: Dr Stuart has prepared a short paper reflecting on his PhD research along with some of our work during 2023 and the trends we have identified in agriculture, environmental markets and environmental data.

June 2023: Dr Karl is a Visiting Professor with the Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment (JGSEE) at KMUTT in Thailand.  Recordings and supporting presentation materials from his public lectures on environmental finance and energy economics are available here. 

May 2023:  Dr Stuart presented to  the NSW Country Valuers annual conference about the "natural capital" markets that rural valuers are being faced with,  the  potential impact on valuers and what is needed to respond and  keep the industry relevant.   

October 2022: Dr Karl presented at the Australian Agricultural and Resources Economics Society symposium on Natural Capital

June 2022:  Dr Karl presented a public lecture at the Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment (King Mongut University in Thailand) about the suspension of the in May 2022 of the National Electricity Market in Australia.  The accompanying paper is available here.

October 2020: Aton Consulting conducted a review for the NSW Department of Environment regarding the market dynamics in the Biodiversity Offset Market, and the possible impacts of removing the Biodiversity Offset Price Calculator (BOPC) from public view.  

The report was released by the DPE under an FOI request.

July 2020: Dr Karl presented at ASEAN Energy Day, with accompanying paper, on the investment opportunities (and difficulties) arising from the Energy Transition. 

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In 2006 it became clear that market participants in the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Market were trading certificates at ABOVE the government set penalty rate.  This apparently irrational behaviour did of course have a rational explanation, and in this personal 2006 submission to the National Emissions Trading Task Force, Dr Karel explains the interactions of forward markets and spot markets in the context of Australian environmental markets.

We partnered with the Allen Consulting Group to conduct an experimental economics investigation of the possible impacts of the proposed (in 2006) AGL-Alinta merger.  The issue at play has to do with the market structure and interaction of upstream and downstream gas markets with the market for pipeline transmission capacity.  (Particularly in the circumstance where one player is in fact active in all 3 markets).

In 2006 the Howard Government was working on the details of a proposed National Emissions Trading Scheme, and had established a National Emissions Trading Taskforce to develop the proposal.  At the SEELab (and in consultation with the then AFMA Environmental Markets Committee), we prepared a research paper outlining some of the design lessons from financial markets that should be kept in mind when designing environmental markets.

In 2006 we observed some unusual market dynamics in the Renewable Energy Certificate Market.  In this report we examined how the asymmetry in mark rules between electricity retailers (who had to buy RECs by a given date each year) and generators (who could create RECs at any time from energy possibly generated years in the past) could lead to some strange market outcomes.   In particular, it uses experimental economics to demonstrate how this set of market rules probably cause the least-cost assumption to be violated....

Ultimately a time restrain was introduced by the Australian Government about the delay in REC creation.   

One of our more frequently cited papers, from 2006, co-authored with Dr Iain MacGill and Professor Hugh Outhred.  This paper examines the performance of the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, the NSW Greenhouse Benchmarks, the Queensland 13% Gas scheme and Government accredited Green Power. 

We conclude that the performance of these government designed environmental markets has been "mixed"....

The Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society 2003 conference focused on the uses of markets to manage environmental issues.  The full proceedings are 214 pages of relevant papers by multiple authors about the design of such markets.

In particular, MacGill, Outhred and Nolles were given a "best paper" award, for our summary of "experience with market based approaches to climate change".  (At page 63 in the proceedings).

It is interesting to note that many of the same issues are being currently (2023) faced on the design of biodiversity markets....