Are most Australians really ‘doing it tough’? In response to the widely-held notion that we are all suffering from cost of living pressures, CPD fellow Ian … more
NEW REPORT | Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy

Introducing CPD’s first major Sustainable Economy Report Our oceans are often out of sight, but that doesn’t mean they should be out of mind. Australia is … more
Insight | Budget 2011

CPD authors find a lot of blinkered thinking in the race to a surplus. Here’s what you will find in the Budget 2011 edition of InSight. more
The value of nature & the nature of value | Pavan Sukhdev

Pavan Sukhdev, an economist and head of the UN Green Economy Initiative, was in Australia as a guest of the Centre for Policy Development in August … more
Australia’s Green Economic Potential

Australia’s Green Economic Potential – a CPD Briefing Paper by CPD Fellow, Ben Eltham. This briefing paper puts some of the issues covered in the United … more
Fiona Armstrong | Rolling The Dice at Durban
“In the final week in Durban a sense of frustration is permeating the COP, where aspirations for a global deal remain high, but expectations swing between mildly hopeful and almost absent.” The 2011 Durban Climate Change Conference is in its final week and its organisers are hopeful of hammering out a deal that finally makes it a legal obligation to tackle climate change. CPD fellow Fiona Armstrong is attending the event and has given her … more
Laura Eadie | ABC Local Radio Newcastle
CPD researcher Laura Eadie appeared on ABC 1233 Newcastle Local Radio this morning – interviewed by Jill Emberson – talking about Australia’s future sustainable economy and the increasing recognition of climate change in Australian coastal planning within public policy. Laura is the author of Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy the first in a series of reports that will look at how different sectors of Australia’s economy can benefit from policies to preserve the environment and resources that sustain … more
Protection Vital to Securing Our Marine Wealth | Miriam Lyons & Laura Eadie
Australia is surrounded by a vast wealth of oceans. More than 70 per cent of our territory lies under water – the third largest and most biodiverse marine estate in the world. So far we’ve stepped up to the challenge of managing one important marine resource – our fish stocks – better than most countries in the world. However, given that 63 per cent of the world’s stocks are overfished, that’s a bit like saying … more
Adelaide Now | Seagrass ‘stores $79 per ha of carbon’
Online news outlet Adelaide Now covers the release of our new report; Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy (available to Download here). The article draws attention to one of the key messages of the report, the economic value of the carbon that is stored in our oceans ecosystems. “Sea grasses store 10 to 40 times as much carbon per hectare as forests, and Australia’s sea-grass meadows are the largest in the world, a report by the Centre … more
The People’s Daily | Australia Puts Price on Dying Oceans
Our research on our ocean wealth makes it all the way to China – The People’s Daily reports on CPD’s research paper Stocking Up: Securing our Marine Economy, emphasising its implications for Australia’s carbon tax debate. According to Laura Eadie, “It’s not an easy thing to put a price on the value of life let alone an ecological treasure chest that sustains and if protected could sustain us for future lifetimes, but that’s what this … more
Forbes Advocate | $25b Treasure Trove Uncovered
WHAT price nature? When it comes to adding up the ecological benefits to Australia of its huge marine domain, the first serious stab at a value is $25 billion. Forbes Advocate Andrew Darby reports on CPD’s Research Paper Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy. Building on the UN Environment Program biodiversity assessments, CPD’s paper counted the worth of nature hidden beneath the sea’s surface. As Environment Minister Tony Burke indicates, this is once-in-a-generation chance to protect … more
Gunter Pauli | The Blue Economy
Gunter Pauli has a dream. The Belgian economist and entrepreneur has a plan to develop 100 manufacturing innovations with viable business models that could generate 100 million jobs in 10 years. All with zero emissions and no waste. He calls it “The Blue Economy” with innovations covering the full gamut of industrial activity, from energy to mining, from medicine to banking … all of it inspired by science and biometrics. And Pauli isn’t all talk … more
Ian Dunlop | Corporate Heads in the Sand: Global Warming, Risk & Governance
Global warming is about risk and uncertainty. Many factors probably contribute to it, including natural variability. However, it is beyond reasonable doubt that the world is … more
UPDATE on our Sustainable Economy Program | Meet Research Director, Laura Eadie
Policy solutions, not political games… It’s got to be sustainable. Introducing CPD’s NEW Sustainable Economy Research Director Australia has tremendous opportunity to leverage its abundant natural … more
