The federal government has announced the creation of biodiversity certificates and trading scheme to recognise landholders who restore or manage local habitat. The aim of the scheme is to increase native habitat by allowing landholders to earn biodiversity certificates which can be sold to other parties.

The new scheme is intended to operate in a similar way to the existing carbon credits scheme, which allows landholders to accrue 'Australian Carbon Credit Units' (ACCUs) for land management practices that remove or avoid greenhouse gas emissions. These ACCUs are a financial product that can be sold to the Australian government and other businesses to generate an income.

As with the carbon credits scheme, the proposed biodiversity certificates and trading scheme will be regulated by the Clean Energy Regulator.

The federal government has said that they will be consulting widely on the legislative framework and rules surrounding the scheme. Our initial comments on what we can expect to see in upcoming months are as follows:

• Similar to the carbon credits scheme, the proposed biodiversity certificates and trading scheme will likely be voluntary, and require landholders to demonstrate that their project will have tangible benefits to restoring or managing local habitat.
• The proposed scheme will likely require the introduction of new legislation or the amendment of existing legislation.
• The proposed scheme will likely draw upon the experience of land managers who currently undertake voluntary (and unregulated) biodiversity trading schemes. For example, the Queensland Land Restoration Fund currently supports land management projects that improve biodiversity and habitat for threatened species through reforestation or restoration.
• The scheme may mirror aspects of the Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Market Bill 2022, which was introduced by the Morrison government in February 2022.

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