There are 3 key NSW government agencies that administer and support the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme.
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
The department is the administrator and regulator of the scheme, with responsibility for:
- key legislation governing the scheme
- the Biodiversity Assessment Method and supporting rules and policies
- maintaining public registers, including for creating, transferring and retiring credits
- providing additional credit market information, tools and support
- accrediting and monitoring assessors who apply the Biodiversity Assessment Method.
Credits Supply Taskforce
The Credits Supply Taskforce is part of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The Taskforce facilitates the supply of biodiversity credits to meet demand and manages the Biodiversity Credits Supply Fund.
The Taskforce:
- manages Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement applications, expressions of interest, and variation processes
- proactively supports landholders to enter into Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements that generate priority credits (credits most likely to be in demand).
The Taskforce also operates the Biodiversity Credits Supply Fund by:
- buying credits from landholders at competitive market prices, based on forecast demand from major projects and infrastructure development
- selling credits at purchase price (with a small mark-up to account for administrative and delivery costs) to public or private proponents who need to offset biodiversity impacts.
To learn more, go to About the Biodiversity Credits Supply Fund and Taskforce.
Biodiversity Conservation Trust
The Biodiversity Conservation Trust oversees Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements and the Biodiversity Stewardship Payments Fund including by:
- assisting landholders to manage their biodiversity stewardship sites, including supporting annual reporting processes
- ensuring compliance with Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement management actions, including ecological monitoring
- managing the Biodiversity Stewardship Payments Fund (which holds management funding also called Total Fund Deposits, for each agreement) and administering annual management payments to landholders.
The Biodiversity Conservation Trust also manages the Biodiversity Conservation Fund. This includes:
- buying credits from landholders to meet offset obligations that have been transferred to the trust
- retiring credits to meet the trust’s obligations
- administering the Biodiversity Conservation Fund Charge System, which determines the amount that scheme participants must pay to meet their offset obligations
- administering the biodiversity credits price estimation service.
The Biodiversity Conservation Trust also purchases biodiversity credits to meet the offset requirements of NSW Government priority projects and programs, such as Sydney Region Growth Centres and the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan.
Learn more about the Biodiversity Conservation Trust.