A key requirement of the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme is that all proposed projects should first avoid and minimise biodiversity impacts, and only then seek to offset the residual impacts.
The ‘avoid and minimise’ requirement of the scheme helps to protect biodiversity, but also helps to minimise biodiversity offset costs for proponents where biodiversity impacts are unavoidable.
Planning your development so it does not impact on biodiversity or avoiding and minimising your impact may also mean you can avoid the scheme applying.
Consider and plan for your offsets early
To avoid delaying the start of your project, you should consider the range of offsetting options early in the project planning process. Failure to do so could result in projects delays and increased offset costs.
The benefits of considering offset options early include:
- allowing more time to find and negotiate the purchase price of credits available on the market
- ensuring sufficient time for the formal transaction to purchase and retire credits
- allowing time for the Biodiversity Assessment Method to be applied to any proposed land-based offset site and for the corresponding stewardship agreements to be established
- providing additional opportunities and time for the Credits Supply Taskforce to assist in finding the required credits
- allowing more time for you to make better informed and planned decisions
- potentially reducing the reliance on having to make payments to the Biodiversity Conservation Fund, which is often at a premium.
The steps on the related information pages below may help you to minimise your impacts and costs.