Economic Perspective 16 October 2026
The Latest Trending Economic News Curated for You by Balmoral Group Australia
Hello Dear Readers,
Advances in public environmental databases are creating new opportunities for spatial analysis, and thus developments in this area are highly relevant to our GIS work here at BGA. Two areas where potential improvements are occuring are bushfires and environmental DNA (eDNA) for biodiversity monitoring. Current fire data remains fragmented across organisations and jurisdictions, while advances in eDNA tools are making high-confidence environmental sampling cheaper and more accessible.
In other environmental news, large multinational corporations have called for governments to redirect public spending towards lowering nature-harming subsidies, and a new CSIRO report assessing the adoption of emissions-reduction technologies in agriculture found that farmer adoption relies more on profitability rather than technical performance - a finding that we here at BGA can corroborate based on prior analysis. This week, I've also attached an example of BGA GIS analysis, visualising the distribution of a rare wattle species amongst the craggy slopes of the WA's Pilbara region.
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Happy reading and have a lovely weekend!
Nestlé, Unilever, L&G Among 130 Firms Urging Governments to Redirect $2.6 Trillion in Nature-Harming Subsidies
In an open letter, more than 130 companies and financial institutions, representing over US$600 billion in revenue and US$4.7 trillion in assets under management, have called for reforms in incentive plans. The open letter was convened by Business for Nature and the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation ahead of COP17. It targets at least US$2.6 trillion a year in public spending linked to soil degradation, water stress and ecosystem loss, aiming to redirect existing spending through cross-ministerial national reform plans. So far, only 5% of countries have set comprehensive national targets. Read more here.
Australia urgently needs a national bushfire database. Here’s what it could look like
Fire agencies are adopting new technologies that track where fires start and how they spread. However, data is scattered across organisations and jurisdictions, which makes it hard to access when fires break out. Researchers from the University of Sydney and RMIT argue for a national database drawing on models like Europe’s Forest Fire Information System, with shared metadata and vocabulary keeping data consistent. Indigenous Australian controlled burning techniques would also benefit the design of such as database, although the main obstacles are data ownership, privacy, governance, funding and ongoing maintenance. Read more here.
Tracking environmental change using environmental DNA (eDNA)
eDNA has been recenlty used by DCCEEW researchers in the National Environment Science Program as an efficient tool to detect the presence of endangered Gouldian finches. The eDNA test that can reliably detect finches from a 200 mL water sample taken from waterholes they visited in the previous 48 hours, and the approach can be applicable at scale to enhance national datasets. Last year’s OceanOmics eDNA Dashboard, from Parks Australia and the Minderoo Foundation, drew on more than 6,000 seawater samples to record 257,497 marine vertebrate observations, eDNA detections can also be submitted directly to the Atlas of Living Australia using a spreadsheet template, where they count as recognised biological records. As this technology develops, spatial datasets may reveal greater insights into Australian biodiversity. Read more here.
CSIRO report identifies investment priorities for low-emissions agriculture
A new CSIRO report assessed more than 80 emissions-reduction technologies across six sectors: red meat and sheep, dairy, cropping, horticulture, pigs and poultry. The technologies range from feed supplements to emerging anti-methanogenic livestock vaccines. It sets investment priorities across three horizons: now to 2030, 2030 to 2035, and beyond 2035. A key finding is that technical performance alone poorly predicts adoption. Cost, return on investment, ease of use, trusted data and market value all shape uptake. The authors expect modest reductions in the near term, with farms likely needing “stacks” of technologies suited to their systems. Read the report here.
Methods used by carbon projects in Australia
BGA produced the maps below to visualise occurrences of a rare wattle species acacia bromilowiana (represented by green stars) in an area of the Pilbaras, WA. The maps suggest that the plants prefer environments adjacent to water-ways, and the top right panel (representing slope) shows occurrences avoiding both the steepest (dark red) and flattest (light pink) slopes, instead preferring craggy, medium elevation hills. Visit our website for more GIS work.
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