Key Points:
The Draft Environmental Offsets Policy appears to be a
step in the right direction, away from the current inconsistent
application of offset "ratios"
Increasingly, project approvals are using offsets to compensate
for their environmental impact. This has raised issues regarding
how offsets are determined, and when they are to be applied. The
Australian Government recently released a
Draft Environmental Offsets Policy to address these issues.
What are environmental offsets?
Environmental offsets are measures to compensate for the adverse
impacts of an action on the environment that cannot be adequately
reduced through avoidance or mitigation. Relevantly though, offsets
do not reduce the impacts of an action.
