Biodiversity Offsets Scheme reforms

The Biodiversity Offsets Scheme is established under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (the Act). 

An independent panel undertook a review of the Act to determine whether its policy objectives remained valid and whether the terms of the Act remained appropriate for securing those objectives. The final report from the review was released in August 2023. 

Read more about the Statutory review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. 

In July 2024 the NSW Government released the NSW plan for nature in response to the independent reviews of the Act and the native vegetation provisions of the Local Land Services Act 2013. The NSW plan for nature includes the commitments the government has made to reform the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme. 

See the full response in the NSW plan for nature on the NSW Cabinet Office website. 

Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Act 2024

On 22 November 2024, the NSW Parliament passed the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Act 2024 (the Amendment Act). The Amendment Act implements reforms to the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme in line with the NSW plan for nature, including by:

• requiring the transition of the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme to delivering net positive biodiversity outcomes, guided by a net positive strategy
• embedding the ‘avoid, minimise, offset hierarchy’ in the Act and enabling the regulation to set assessment standards that ensure proponents undertake genuine measures to avoid and minimise biodiversity impacts
• reducing the reliance on the Biodiversity Conservation Fund by allowing the regulation to set circumstances where the fund cannot be used
• requiring the concurrence of the Minister for the Environment for state significant projects where consent conditions differ from the credit requirements in the Biodiversity Development Assessment Report
• increasing transparency by creating new public registers that capture tracking of offset obligations, avoid and minimise measures, and decisions to approve or refuse serious and irreversible impacts.

Commencement of the Amendment Act and development of supporting regulations

On 7 March 2025, all provisions in the Amendment Act commenced, except those relating to the assessment of genuine measures to avoid and minimise impacts to biodiversity. 

The NSW Government is also developing amendments to the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 to implement some of the reforms in the Amendment Act and to deliver other commitments in the NSW plan for nature. 

The department is now undertaking public consultation as part of this process. Find out more about the draft amendment and have your say by 17 July 2026.

If you have any questions about the reforms, please contact the BOS reforms mailbox at [email protected]

To be kept informed on Biodiversity Offsets Scheme reforms, please register to receive the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme Update newsletter.