The Nature Repair Market is officially “open for business”, with the release of a method to generate biodiversity certificates for replanting native forests and woodlands.
On 1 March 2025, the first method under the Nature Repair Act 2023 was released, officially launching the Nature Repair Market. As outlined in our earlier insight, the nature repair market is a new, voluntary market – independent of and excluding biodiversity offsets.
This first method allows biodiversity certificates to be generated for new replantings of native forests and woodlands. But given uncertainties associated with the new market, and significant upfront costs of these projects, this method represents a ‘soft launch’ of sorts – and is likely to be of greatest interest to those already motivated to undertake similar projects for other reasons, including participation in carbon markets.
The new method for replanting native forests and woodland ecosystems
Under the new method, land that has been historically cleared can be replanted and restored with native forests and woodlands ecosystems to generate tradable biodiversity certificates, relative to the positive biodiversity outcomes achieved by the project. Certificates can be sold to generate income, held by the owner as an asset, or deposited with the Clean Energy Regulator (regulator of the scheme) to demonstrate commitments to biodiversity outcomes in perpetuity.
The method requires proponents to plant native species to restore forest or woodland ecosystems to a benchmark condition, to be maintained for a permanence period of 25 or 100 years from the registration date. Projects can be relinquished at any time, but only upon the equivalent certificates to those generated by the project being returned. Given the uncertainties of a new market, the shorter period is likely to be more attractive to anyone not otherwise already managing land for long-term natural values (e.g. environmental NGOs or local councils).
Proponents don’t have to be landholders, but they do need to have the legal right to carry out the project and the consent of the relevant landholders and any other interest holders (i.e. mortgagees, Crown Lands and Aboriginal Land Councils). The land must also be in the eligible regions of Australia, which generally includes most of Australia’s temperate woodland and forested regions (excluding tropical areas).
The key benefit of the method is it allows projects to be “stacked” with carbon credits, meaning proponents can receive both carbon credits and biodiversity certificates for the same project. The project must be lodged and managed under each scheme, but the carbon project must be registered first to meet the ‘newness’ test under the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) scheme. Pre-existing plantings will not be eligible under either scheme, so stacking will only be available in the very early stages of a planting carbon project.
Likely early adopters under the method
The process of restoring an ecosystem to a benchmark condition is typically expensive, and will require significant upfront and ongoing management. It may require restoring and managing not just trees and tall shrubs, but diverse groundcovers and grasses too. This goes above and beyond what is typically required for carbon planting.
A cost estimator tool is available via the CER online web mapping tool (PLANR) and can help proponents estimate how much a project will cost. However, given the newness of the nature repair market, there’s currently no real guidance on anticipated demand or the value of a project in the nature repair market – or what a biodiversity certificate would trade for.
Therefore, EMM sees this method as a ‘soft launch’ of the market. The planting method leverages market confidence behind carbon credits and is most likely suited to those already considering a biodiverse carbon planting project, with the biodiversity certificate an added financial incentive rather than the driving force of the project.
What’s next?
As a new market, there remains significant uncertainty regarding the anticipated market demand in the nature repair market, if it will materialise without a clear driver (such as regulatory offsetting).
However, a pipeline of other methods are on the way. When released, the full suite should allow proponents to select a project that best aligns with their site and their management capabilities. Methods under consideration include:
- Enhancing remnant vegetation
- Native forestry management
- Invasive pest management
- Rangelands (to conserve arid and semi-arid areas).
- Permanent protection (consistent with National 30 by 30 targets; to achieve 30% of terrestrial land mass conserved for biodiversity by 2030
If you’re interested in learning more about the new method or nature repair market and the opportunities it may have for you, get in touch.
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