PwC walks back report used to claim Australia’s nature repair market could be worth $137bn

Tanya Plibersek cited the PwC report in March in support of Labor’s nature repair market bill, saying the market could ‘unlock $137bn’ for environment protection purposes. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

PwC has walked back a report used to claim the nature repair market could be worth $137bn, accepting it measures “indirect spending towards biodiversity” but the amount spent on “threatened species conservation, with clear outcomes, is likely much less”.

The consultancy firm made that submission to a Senate inquiry examining the Albanese government’s nature repair market bill in response to a critique of the report from the progressive thinktank the Australia Institute.