The Economic Perspective 31 October 2025

The Latest Trending Economic News Curated for You by Balmoral Group Australia

Good morning dear readers, and happy Halloween!

This week we have spooky updates on global corporate sustainability regulation, along with articles discussing research in sustainable decision-making (very scary). New Zealand has raised the threshold of their approaching emissions reporting requirements, exempting smaller businesses in the hopes of stoking their stock market while pursuing emissions transparency. Meanwhile, the UK will establish consistency across ESG ratings under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in order to smooth out investor confidence and improve rating accuracy. CSIRO and MLA have partnered with google to pursue AI tools for farmer grazing decisions, and new research indicates that concrete in buildings may have carbon sequestration properties to be leveraged by appropriate policy reform.

We're interested in the impacts of grazing decisions here at BGA, so I've attached a map from Our World in Data representing global distribution of pastures and grazing land. It shows the relative importance of grazing for Australia specifically, with pastures comprising over 40% of our area. 

Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think would be interested. If you’d like to view previous editions, please click here and navigate the News tab, or to subscribe, please click here!

Hope you enjoy the articles and have a great weekend!

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New Zealand Lifts Climate Reporting Thresholds to Revive Capital Markets 

New Zealand’s Financial Markets Conduct Amendment Bill, expected to pass by 2026, establishes climate reporting requirements for companies above a certain market capitalisation (meaning the total value of their outstanding shares). Due to worries of recent share market sluggishness, NZ has lifted the market cap threshold from NZ$60 million to NZ$1 billion, reducing reporting requirements for smaller firms in hopes of maintaining competitiveness while pursuing emissions transparency. This move follows similar events in Europe, with the EU Parliament delaying implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive – although, with the EU’s rejection of the recent rollback bill, the European climate agenda remains ambitious. Read more here.

FCA to Regulate ESG Ratings Providers Under New UK Legislation 

UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulate ESG rating providers to address inconsistent methodologies and opaque scoring systems in the rapidly expanding sustainable finance sector. FCA will publish their consultation paper containing detailed rules by year-end, incorporating best practices from the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). ESG ratings are “critical inputs” in global capital allocation that influence investor decisions, and smoothing out rating methods will improve accuracy and investor confidence. Other economies have also formalized ESG rating regulations, including the EU, Japan and Singapore. Read more here.   

CSIRO, MLA and Google launch global AI challenge to transform pasture management 

The three organisations have offered a US$75,000 prize pool to advance AI for estimating pasture biomass in agriculture. With half of Australia and a quarter of Earth’s land surface covered by grazing systems, farmer decisions regarding the balance of livestock needs against pasture regrowth has vast effects on food and natural systems, and AI models could improve these decisions. AI training for agricultural estimation is based on pasture images varying across seasons, location and species, along with field measurements on plant characteristics and health. Such AI tools could reduce manual sampling needs, improve information reliability and guide grazing decisions. Read more here.

When architecture becomes carbon accounting 

Buildings can store carbon through wood components and “concrete carbonation”, with a single kilogram of concrete able to reabsorb an estimated 0.05 kg of carbon dioxide over 64 years, a significant volume at city-scale. This US based study found that concrete carbonization is more important than wooden building components for carbon sequestration, and the results suggested policy and material choices having greater effect on building carbon storage than climate conditions. However, eco-system biomass may remain the most viable research area for carbon storage. Read more here.

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Global pastures

This map from Our World in Data has used recent UN data to visualise the share of Earth’s landmass dedicated to permanent meadows and pastures. Australia sits around 43%, indicating the massive importance of everyday grazing decisions when their impact accumulates over time.

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