Clifford Chance
Australian environmental offsets policy released
26 October 2012
The Australian Government has released a new policy for assessing the offsets to environmental impacts arising out of project proposals and applications.
Offsets are mitigating actions offered by project proponents to counterbalance the environmental impact on a significant habitat or species caused by a project or operations.
While the government has been applying a draft offsets policy for many years, the new policy does contain some important differences. Companies contemplating new developments that may trigger the application of the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) should familiarise themselves with the requirements of the policy.
