Madeline Combe

Contact:madeline.h.combe@student.uts.edu.au

Entered PhD Program: August 2022

Principal Supervisor:Deborah Cotton

Co-supervisor:Kathy Walsh, Scott Matter, Megan Evans (external)

  • Biodiversity Finance
  • Nature-related Risk Management
  • Transition Governance
  • System Change

Academic Background and Work Experience:

Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from the University of Technology Sydney and a Masters of Sustainability from Sydney University, Madeline has spent the last decade working across diverse sustainability functions. These include marine and terrestrial wildlife conservation, corporate sustainability, design and innovation, disability & social impact, and sustainable finance. At present, she collaborates with investment stakeholders on nature-related issues in the finance industry as both a consultant and as a volunteer for a not for profit, Altiorem, whom she represents on Australia’s largest Investor led working group on nature. To support the sustainable finance community to navigate the nature crisis, in 2022 Madeline began pursuing a PhD through which she is exploring challenges and opportunities to influence the transition to a biodiversity positive funds management system in Australia.

Combe, M. et al., 2022, Risky business: How Australia’s banks and super funds are responding to the nature crisis, Australian Conservation Foundation.

Combe, M. et al., 2023, Losing the natural world comes with major risks for your super fund and bank, The Conversation.

Combe, M. et al, 2024, "Nature Investor Toolkit: Understanding nature-related risks and opportunities and supporting investors to assess, engage and take action", Responsible Investment Association Australasia.

Combe, M., Brown, A. and Wheatley, M., 2024, "State of Nature Related Disclosures: Assessing TNFD Alignment of Nature-Related Disclosures by Firms in High-Risk Sectors", Report, First Sentier MUFG Sustainable Investment Institute.

Van Herwaarden, A. and Combe, M., 2024, "Risky Business 2.0: How Australian financial institutions are managing nature-related risks; and opportunities", 2024 Progress Report, Australian Conservation Foundation.

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Transcript

[Soft background music. Footage shows insects, birds, and mammals in natural environments.]

Insects and birds and mammals go about their daily business and provide pollination services for crops and other plant life. It's not something we think about all the time, but the sum total of those services are things that we interact with and depend on every single day in our lives.

The unprecedented decline of biodiversity really threatens our capacity to sustain ourselves. If we look at food and beverage companies or a forestry company, they clearly draw on natural resources. If we destroy all the world's biodiversity, how will we have the genes and species available to provide medicines?

We're talking about multi-billion dollar portfolios that completely depend on just a few ecosystem services. So financial institutions are saying, "Well, what can we do about this? What's our role in this? We're the ones that are financing the decline of nature, and at the same time that money also depends on nature." Financial market actors are really waking up to that reality.

My research is really about that cultural piece—about asking, what are the perceptions that financial market actors have of the environment? Because that then will inform the way that they respond to it.

I work in the finance industry, and going into this doctorate was really a product of identifying a problem and a concern that that community has. For me, it was important to always stay connected and stay on the pulse of what the industry is doing, what the sentiment is in the market, how my community—the sustainable finance community—perceives this issue. That way, my research is always a reflection of what's happening in the real world.