The Australian government will conduct a full audit of environmental offsets to crack down on developers shirking their responsibilities to protect nature, it announced Thursday.
The audit will investigate the compliance of over 1,000 offset sites approved under national environmental law over the last 20 years, to make sure developers are meeting their obligations.
It will consider whether offset requirements have been met and whether the initiatives are delivering the environmental benefits they said they would.
Environmental offsetting, at the federal level, is designed to compensate for any impacts of developers that cannot be avoided or mitigated.
However, until recently there has been no reporting to track whether developers are actually delivering on their pledges, the government said.
“When developers agree to offset the impacts of their projects, it’s not an optional exercise. It’s a legal obligation,” Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek said.
“For too long, projects have gotten away with promising one thing and not following through.”
The government said it’s not clear whether offset arrangements prevent environmental decline, particularly where they are not effectively enforced or maintained.
It is currently developing a new federal offsetting standard as part of reforms to the Environmental Biodiversity Protection and Conservation (EPBC) laws, and is setting up Environment Protection Australia to monitor compliance.
“Accurate reporting on projects – where the projects are and how they are being managed – is critical to ensure we are protecting nature,” Plibersek added.
“We need systems to identify and call out bad behaviour. And it should be easy to see who is doing the right thing.”
However, the government said work would begin immediately to assess current projects and ensure they are meeting their commitments, adding that penalties may be imposed for projects found to be in breach of their approval conditions.
“Approval holders should consider themselves on notice – deliver on your obligations for nature, or face penalties,” Plibersek said.
A spokesperson for the minister’s office told Carbon Pulse that the government is expected to detail the audits findings in a report within the next 12 months.
The terms of reference for the audit have not been released.
The spokesperson said the audit would not cover the various offsetting schemes that function at the state level, but added that it would be able to scrutinise offsets that had been used to meet both state and federal level compliance obligations.
This is despite a review into the New South Wales offsetting scheme found last year to be failing to protection endangered species and ecosystems, and to be littered with integrity and transparency issues.
Plibersek emphasised that properly-managed offsets should be used as a last resort but would help to make sure nature is better off overall.
“We want to better protect nature, while also supporting essential sustainable development like housing and renewable energy,” she said.
“Developers should do everything they can to avoid habitat destruction and reduce impacts on nature.”
Commenting on the announcement, Brendan Sydes, biodiversity policy adviser with the Australian Conservation Foundation, welcomed the audit.
“Many Australians will be shocked to learn that offset approvals are issued and never followed up,” he said.
“It’s beyond time this is addressed and new reforms, including an independent and well-funded national environment protection authority, are implemented to turn around the deeply entrenched belief that compliance with rules intended to protect the environment are optional.”
He added that it was an inherent problem that demand for environmental offsets is driven by environmental destruction.
“The government’s acknowledgement that despite multiple reviews and audit reports the offsets system is still failing demonstrates why we need new nature protection laws that actually protect nature.”
Sam Szoke-Burke, biodiversity policy and campaign manager with the Wilderness Society Australia, told Carbon Pulse the audit was long overdue, and that action needed to be taken to address issues in the scheme before the EPBC laws are overhauled.
“Strong new laws and an independent EPA will no doubt help to enforce improved offset standards in the future, but there are holes in the current offset policy and environment compliance and enforcement policy that can be plugged in the meantime—and they should be if the government is serious about preventing further nature decline,” he said.
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By Mark Tilly – mark@carbon-pulse.com
