Music mecca hits the right note for nature

An iconic Aussie music festival is the first entity to invest in a new offering that kills two birds with one stone, as companies start understanding the link between carbon and nature.

Asia-Pacific carbon offsets provider Tasman Environmental Markets (TEM), the leading voluntary Australian carbon credits provider, teamed up with biodiversity credit developer Wilderlands to bring the new solution to market.

The Biological Diversity Unit (BDU) unit represents one square metre of permanently protected and actively managed land of high ecological value, protecting the habitat of endangered animals and threatened plant species.

The 'Extended Impact' solution "provides businesses with a simple way to offset their emissions, while also supporting biodiversity projects local to them," said TEM CEO Adrian Enright.

Laneway Festival became the first customer. The purchase was made to offset emissions by touring festival personnel.

The company conducted a footprint analysis with carbon consultancy NetNada following its 2023/34 touring festival season.

The exercise enabled financiers to gauge the total environmental impact of the festival.

Wilder lands CEO Ash Knop said there has been an uptick in companies beginning to assess and understand their impact on nature and consider biodiversity credits as a part of their broader environmental strategies.

The concept "provides companies with a way to reduce emissions while also helping to protect Australia's biodiversity, forever. One square metre at a time," Knop said.

This brings Wilderlands' track record to over 100,000 square metres of vulnerable ecosystems protected, and TEM has now offset over 11 million tonnes of carbon emissions across 30 countries.

Projects include TEM's April Salumei project in Papua New Guinea - the largest rainforest conservation project in the country.

The scheme also invests in Coorong Lakes in South Australia, with Ngarrindjeri Traditional Owners co-design and co-management, home to over 61 native bird species and 222 plant species including endangered orchid.

Other projects include Alleena conservation reserve in NSW, and Avoca River in Victoria that is home to the critically endangered natural grasslands of the Murray Valley Plains.