Queensland Environmental Offsets Framework

Under the Environmental Offsets Act 2014 an environmental offset is defined as an activity undertaken to counterbalance a significant residual impact of a prescribed activity on a prescribed environmental matter.

An environmental offset compensates for unavoidable impacts on significant environmental matters (e.g., valuable species or ecosystems) on one site, by securing land at another site, and managing that land over a period of time, to replace those significant environmental matters which were lost. An environmental offset may be required as a condition of approval where—following consideration of avoidance and mitigation measures—a prescribed activity is likely to result in a significant residual impact on a matter of state environmental significance (MSES) which is listed as a prescribed environmental matter (PEM) under the Environmental Offsets Regulation 2014.

Figure 2 highlights the key elements that must be considered to determine whether or not an environmental offset may be required. Detailed information on each element is located on the Queensland environmental offsets website.

Resources

Queensland’s environmental offset framework provides a structure for delivering, measuring, monitoring and securing environmental offsets. The framework is comprised of:

• Environmental Offsets Act 2014, which coordinates the delivery of environmental offsets across jurisdictions and provides a single point-of-truth for offsets in Queensland
• Environmental Offsets Regulation 2014, which provides details of the prescribed activities regulated under existing legislation and prescribed environmental matters to which the Act applies
• The Queensland Environmental Offsets Policy, which provides a single, consistent, whole-of-government policy for the assessment of offset proposals to satisfy offset conditions.

PEMs identified as potentially occurring or likely to be impacted by a prescribed activity are generally assessed using Significant Residual Impact (SRI) Guideline(s).

The Significant Residual Impact Guideline is used for consideration of all potential offset requirements for Matters of State Environmental Significance, for applications made under the Environmental Protection Act 1994, Nature Conservation Act 1992 and Marine Parks Act 2004. A Significant Residual Impact Guideline has been developed for the assessment of prescribed activities under the superseded Sustainable Planning Act 2009 and the Planning Act 2016.

An impact site assessment tool assists in the identification of the full extent of all significant residual impacts on prescribed environmental matters contained on an impact site. You can request to have the impact site assessment results emailed. The email generates a report and spreadsheet (in an attached csv file) of the impact site assessment results. This tool is not mandatory; however, applicants are encouraged to use the tool and submit the csv file results with their relevant development application.

The Landscape Fragmentation and Connectivity Tool enables a decision to be made on the significance of an impact on connectivity areas containing remnant vegetation Category B. The tool is available at the Queensland Spatial Catalogue (search for “offsets”) link.

For further information on the relationship between prescribed activities and prescribed environmental matters see the General Guide (PDF, 758KB), which provides a summary of prescribed environmental matters that may be subject to an environmental offset requirement for each type of prescribed activity