As part of any property project, there may be an opportunity to offset your environmental impact in lieu of being able to avoid the retention of significant vegetation. Allowing for an offset strategy is important in your project feasibility and our staff can assist in calculating the potential costs at a very early stage.
Not only impacts of property development can be offset, but so can corporate and personal lifestyle environmental impact footprints. Environmental impacts for development/disturbance activities can call up a regulatory requirement for the delivery of an environmental offset under Local, State, and Federal Government legislation. As for corporate and personal lifestyle environmental offsets, these are often voluntary social license measures that can concern impacts around carbon and biodiversity amongst others.
How much does it cost to do an offset?
The cost of an environmental offset for a development or disturbance activity can vary significantly and is heavily influenced by a number of factors. One of the main factors that determine the cost of an environmental offset is the regulatory requirements that are imposed on the activity. Different activities are subject to different regulations and these regulations can have a significant impact on the cost of an offset. For example, clearing a tree in the SEQ Core Koala Habitat Area in Logan City Council may attract a different offset requirement to that of a tree in the Natural Assets Local Law (NALL) overlay in Brisbane City Council.
Another important factor that can influence the cost of an environmental offset is the particular environmental feature that is being offset. Different types of environmental features, such as wetlands, Koala habitat regions, or endangered species habitats, may require different types of offsets and may have different costs associated with them.
The scale of the impact of the development or disturbance activity is another factor that can influence the cost of an environmental offset. A larger impact may require more extensive or costly offset measures to be taken.
It’s important to note that Environmental offsets are a highly specialized area and the regulations surrounding it are rapidly evolving. It’s always advisable to chat with one of the New Ground staff when undertaking any development or disturbance activity that may require an environmental offset.
Please feel free to reach out to one of our staff in the below contact form.
Learn more about our ecological impact mitigation services here: https://newground.com.au/ecological-impact-mitigation/