Introduction

The Biodiversity Council welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the policy settings to enable the Nature Repair Market to supply environmental offsets. This includes three issues papers out for consultation: 1. Policy settings to enable the Market to supply environmental offsets, 2. Supporting threatened species and threatened ecological communities in Nature Repair Market projects, and 3. Rules to support Market integrity and administration.

Our understanding

The Nature Repair Market (NRM) is a national, legislated biodiversity market scheme that was intended to encourage people and businesses to invest in projects that restore the natural environment. It is administered by the Clean Energy Regulator which also oversees Australia’s carbon markets.

The Nature Repair Act 2023 (Cth) established the NRM in December 2023. Under the Act, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) may issue biodiversity certificates to projects that deliver biodiversity outcomes according to an NRM method. These certificates may be sold. Certificates are recorded on a register managed by the CER.

The NRM is still new. The first NRM method and the Ecological Knowledge System to support the market were released for public consultation in October 2024. There is currently only one project registered on the Biodiversity Market Register and it is yet to be issued a tradeable certificate.

As part of the government’s environmental law reform package passed in November 2025, the Nature Repair Act 2023 was amended to allow projects to be used to meet offset obligations under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The reforms also established two new institutions that have functions related to biodiversity offsets: 1) National Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and 2) Restoration Contributions Holder (the Holder).

The EPA will be responsible for assessing projects, setting approval conditions and determining if offset requirements are met. It is due to commence 1 July 2026.

Under the reforms, instead of sourcing an offset themselves, proponents can now make a restoration contribution payment to the Holder who then has the responsibility of finding an offset. To reduce risks that no suitable offsets are available, the Holder has flexibility in applying offsetting principles including like-for-like.

The Biodiversity Council is concerned that the Nature Repair Bill was only passed because amendments were made that prohibited biodiversity certificates from being used for offsets.1 This means that the design of the NRM is not fit-for-purpose for offset delivery. 1 See news here and specific amendments here.

Moreover, the release of the issues papers for public consultation prior to the draft EPBC Act Offset Standard and before the EPA has commenced is akin to building the plane while flying it. We have serious concerns that the offset requirements are simply ‘bolted-on’ to the existing frameworks for carbon credits without considering how the scheme will work holistically considering the role of new institutions and the feedback loops required to ensure that the system has integrity. At a minimum this should include ensuring that the scheme is designed to:

1. Deliver outcomes that sufficiently compensate for impacts on matters of national environmental significance.
2. Ensure that landholders receive a fair credit price and are not subject to moral hazard issues from brokers or consultants.
3. Guarantee that there is no ‘double counting’ of credits and that once a credit has been used to meet an offset obligation it can no longer be traded.

We have mapped our understanding of the architecture of the NRM for offsets and the role of different organisations (see submission Figure 1).

Please download our submission for our full analysis, key concerns and recommendations.

Key recommendations

The Biodiversity Council recommends that:

1. The government further consult on the comprehensive architecture of the scheme showing all the feedback loops and how the risks we have identified have been addressed.
2. The process for retiring biodiversity certificates used as offsets be clarified.
3. Offsets should not be included in the NRM until the coordination arrangements with the new entities - the EPA and the Restoration Contributions Holder - have been settled.
4. The CER develop a comprehensive compliance policy and plan specific to the offset scheme that addresses issues identified in previous reviews of biodiversity offset schemes and environmental compliance more broadly.
5. The CER coordinate with the EPA and State and Territory regulators to ensure a shared approach to compliance and enforcement of offset sites.
6. The stacking of EPBC offsets and ‘general’ biodiversity certificates should be ruled out at this stage and that there should be further consultation if it is considered in the future.
7. More detail is provided regarding how consultants are expected to develop methods, indicators and thresholds for the Threatened Species Characteristic and whether these products will be reviewed by the Nature Repair Committee.
8. Further development and public consultation be undertaken regarding the Threatened Species Characteristic, the Threatened Species Characteristic calculator tool, the Offsets Standard and Offsets Calculator, before the scheme is operational.
9. The CER consult with ASIC about the best approach to managing the risk associated with consultants acting on behalf of both landowners who are supplying biodiversity certificates for offsets and proponents who require biodiversity certificates for offsets and helping to negotiate prices for trade of biodiversity certificates.
10. The CER public reporting clearly separate operation of the offset market and general/voluntary NRM.