BioBanking enabled biodiversity credits to be generated by landowners and developers who committed to enhancing and protecting biodiversity values on their land through a BioBanking agreement.
The biodiversity credits could then be sold, generating funds for the management of the site. Credits could be used to offset the impacts on biodiversity values that occur as a result of development. The credits could also be sold to those wanting to invest in conservation outcomes, including philanthropic organisations and government.
Biodiversity Offsets Scheme
The BioBanking Scheme was replaced by the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme (BOS) under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) which commenced on 25 August 2017. The BOS is also a market-based scheme that operates in a similar way to BioBanking but there have been a number of changes including:
- replacement of the BioBanking Assessment Methodology (BBAM) with the Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM)
- replacement of BioBanking Agreements with Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements
- establishment of the Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT).
Existing BioBanking agreements
Existing BioBanking agreements remain in place and are managed under the BC Act as Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements. The BCT has taken on the ongoing management of BioBanking agreements, including administration of annual reports, application for variations and annual payments.
Applications for BioBanking agreements that were submitted before 25 February 2018 will continue to be processed by the Department of Planning and Environment under the repealed TSC Act before being passed to the BCT for ongoing management. No new applications for BioBanking agreements or statements can be accepted.
Unsold biodiversity credits generated through a BioBanking agreement under the repealed TSC Act remain valid under the BC Act. The Department of Planning and Environment has developed a process to determine the equivalence of TSC Act biodiversity credits with BC Act credits.
See Applying for an assessment of reasonable equivalence for more information.
Forms and transaction register
To transfer BioBanking biodiversity credits an Application to transfer biodiversity credits (DOC 47KB) must be completed and submitted by the current owner/s of the credits with the appropriate fee.
To retire BioBanking biodiversity credits, an Application to retire biodiversity credits (DOC 100KB) must be completed and submitted with the appropriate fee.
Information about credit holdings, transactions, price history and retirements is shown in the BioBanking Public Registers.