Environmental Offsets Act 2014
Under the Queensland Environmental Offsets Act 2014, an environmental offset is an activity undertaken to counterbalance a significant residual impact of development on a prescribed environmental matter.
Unlike mitigation actions, which occur on-site as part of the project (e.g. relocation of an individual plant or animal), environmental offsets occur at another location containing the same environmental values.
The environmental offsets framework
Queensland’s environmental offsets framework provides a structure for delivering, measuring, monitoring and securing environmental offsets.
Features of the framework include:
- Options for a land-based offset, a financial payment to a secured offsets fund or a combination of both.
- The offset funds, managed by the department or local governments, deliver strategic outcomes with advice from an independent committee.
- An option to meet an offset obligation using a proponent-driven offset on land owned by the proponent or a third party.
- Staging offset delivery for larger projects to ensure significant residual impacts are counterbalanced and allowing offset credits or debits to be carried over to later stages of the project.
- Opportunities for landholders to become involved in environmental offset delivery by expressions of interest (free of charge) or applying for an Advanced Offset after surveying ecological conditions.
- Mapping of Strategic Offset Investment Corridors, providing a high-level indication of places potentially suitable for environmental offsets.
Offsets Register
An Environmental Offsets Register lists offsets approved by the Queensland Government since 1 July 2014. Maintained by the department, the register includes information about:
- authorities granted an offset condition for matters of state environmental significance
- financial payments
- land-based offsets
- advanced offsets
- expression of interest areas.
The register is publicly available on the Queensland Government’s website and regularly updated.