By Faridat Salifu
For decades, policymakers framed environmental protection as an economic burden, but new evidence from Australia’s top economists shows the opposite: protecting nature not only pays for itself it generates national productivity and climate resilience.
Dr. Ken Henry, former Treasury Secretary and now chair of the Australian Nature and Biodiversity Foundation, has joined a growing chorus of economic leaders calling for urgent reform to how nature is valued in public policy.
Speaking at the recent National Press Club, Henry warned that Australia’s economy is running on an ecological deficit, using natural resources at 4.5 times their renewal capacity a rate second only to the United States globally.
“This is economic mismanagement on a planetary scale,” Henry said, echoing the 2021 Dasgupta Review, which warned that humanity is overusing the biosphere by at least 1.75 times its regenerative limit.
But the crisis, he argues, is also an opportunity.
Updated models now show that biodiversity protection and climate action can generate long-term savings and boost GDP through avoided damage, new industries, and faster planning systems.
Extreme weather events alone are costing the world an estimated US$143 billion a year, excluding food losses, health impacts, or the cascading effects of ecosystem breakdown such as bee population collapse.
Meanwhile, advances in clean technologies have reversed the cost dynamics of climate solutions.
Solar panel prices, for example, have dropped 99% in four decades, while carbon pricing, ecological accounting, and strategic conservation are now recognized as productivity tools.
Prof. Ross Garnaut’s SuperPower Institute estimates that Australia’s transition to a low-emissions economy could unlock trillions in trade and investment more than enough to replace fossil fuel revenues if reforms align with nature-based and low-carbon strategies.
But Henry insists the obstacle is not technical it’s political.
He criticized what he called “intergenerational bastardry” in Canberra’s bipartisan delays, warning that the current environmental protection law—the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act is failing both ecosystems and key economic needs like energy infrastructure and housing development.
By linking nature-positive reforms to streamlined, accountable planning and investment rules, Henry argues that Australia could build an “efficient, jobs-rich, globally competitive, high-productivity, low-emissions, nature-rich economy.”
He is not alone.
Top economists across the Global South and international institutions like the IMF and World Bank are increasingly aligning with this view, advocating for policy shifts that treat ecosystems as critical infrastructure akin to roads, schools, or hospitals.
With a national productivity roundtable slated for next month, Henry hopes Australia and by extension, other economies will use the moment to reset their environmental accounting, end political inertia, and embrace nature as the bedrock of future prosperity.
