Australia consults on Nature Repair scheme changes to supply biodiversity offsets under EPBC Act

The Australian Government has opened consultation on proposed changes to its Nature Repair scheme that would enable the program to supply biodiversity offsets for projects approved under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (Cth) 1999 (EPBC Act).

The move sits within the roll-out in 2026 of the Government’s Environment Protection Reform package, following major changes to the EPBC Act in late 2025. Because securing offsets is critical for most EPBC Act approvals, officials describe the adaptation of the Nature Repair scheme as a significant element of the reform effort and one that could help kickstart the market-based program.

Three consultation papers have been released, covering: policy settings to enable the Nature Repair scheme to supply environmental offsets; the Threatened Species Characteristic; and amendments to the Nature Repair Rules to support integrity and administration.

Submissions close at 5.00pm Monday 4 May 2026, as part of a series of consultations on elements of the Environment Protection Reform package. The Government says its environmental law and policy reforms are imposing a more extensive and robust biodiversity offsets regime while seeking to provide additional opportunities to create offsets through a legislative market mechanism under the Nature Repair Act.

The aims include improving environmental standards and outcomes, providing greater clarity and certainty for offsetting, and allowing more flexibility in how offsets can be secured. Amendments to the EPBC Act last year made biodiversity offsets a legislative requirement under the Act for the first time; previously, offsets largely depended on a government policy document.

The EPBC Act now provides three delivery pathways: conventional measures (such as conserving biodiversity values on dedicated land or other approved conservation actions); payment of a restoration contribution charge to be invested by the Australian Government under a specific policy; or purchase of a Nature Repair Market biodiversity certificate and allocation of that certificate to the project whose impacts are to be offset.

The current consultation relates to the third pathway. That flexibility has the potential to be useful for proponents if it is designed effectively, with risks and opportunities in the detail requiring careful consideration. The Nature Repair Act 2023 (Cth) (NR Act) came into effect on 15 December 2023, establishing a framework for a voluntary, national biodiversity market.

It allows eligible biodiversity projects to be registered on a Biodiversity Market Register administered by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) and to generate tradeable biodiversity certificates. Modelled in some respects on the Australian carbon credit unit (ACCU) scheme, the framework requires eligible projects to meet a series of registration requirements, including coverage by an approved methodology.

Methodology determinations are legislative instruments made under the Nature Repair Act. The Government’s proposed changes are intended to align the Nature Repair market with the EPBC Act’s new offsetting architecture. Officials frame the consultation as an opportunity to refine the scheme’s integrity and administration so it can support offset supply once the new rules take effect.