New implementation plan sets roadmap to achieve 2030 biodiversity targets
Author: Amanda Griffith, Natural Capital Manager
March 31, 2026
News & Insights
This week, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water released its Implementation Plan for achieving Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024–2030. The Implementation Plan sets out how governments, businesses and communities will work together to halt and reverse biodiversity loss this decade.
As the national blueprint for delivering Australia’s commitments under the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the plan sets out time-bound actions against each of the 6 targets and the 3 enablers of change that support the transformational shift required to achieve the targets.
It is positive to see more detail being added to the plan given we are rapidly approaching the 2030 deadline. First Nations perspectives are also embedded in the plan which adds credibility and will be important for engaging the varied stakeholders needed to deliver the actions.
There are some encouraging themes for landholders, proponents and businesses navigating environmental risk, particularly the nods to the Nature Repair Market (NRM), large-scale land restoration and improved nature-related business decision-making. These elements recognise that public funding alone will not be enough to meet Australia’s biodiversity targets and that private capital, capability and innovation must play a role.
Rebuilding nature through restoration at scale
One of Australia’s nature targets is to have priority degraded areas under effective restoration by 2030.
The implementation plan highlights the need to coordinate restoration efforts and use spatial data to focus efforts where they are most needed and use resources effectively. It also sets a short-term action to define what will be considered “effective restoration” to drive best practice and ensure scientific integrity underpin these efforts.
Scaling existing restoration efforts is identified as a key priority. The plan acknowledges the importance of market schemes such as the Nature Repair Market and the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) scheme to incentivise the level of restoration activity needed to bring our damaged ecosystems back to life.
Flagship Nature Repair scheme features
The Nature Repair Market is mentioned throughout the implementation plan, clearly highlighting the government’s ambitions for the scheme to be a major driver of investment.
The plan also highlights the attractiveness of stacking nature repair and carbon projects on the same land – something that we are exploring with our landholder clients currently. The plan sets out actions to develop new methods under the NRM and the ACCU scheme that are well-aligned with each other.
This approach will be critical to build confidence in a coordinated and strong market, ensuring a wide range of environmental benefits are unlocked from nature projects and that commercial returns are realised.
Businesses valuing nature
The implementation plan also places strong emphasis on improving how nature is considered in business and investment decisions. This is considered one of the key enablers of achieving our biodiversity targets.
The plan encourages businesses to set nature-related targets and voluntarily participate in nature-related financial disclosures. This is good to see continued recognition of nature risks and opportunities for businesses, and forward-thinking corporates and investors are already taking action in this space.
The plan also acknowledges the linkage between achieving biodiversity targets and Australia’s environmental laws. The reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act) are still rolling out and the details of new national environmental standards are not yet available – so we will wait to see if the new rules and how they are applied to projects deliver the environmental protection and restoration promised.
A missed opportunity to unlock private investment at scale
While the strategy recognises the importance of markets and private capital, it misses the opportunity to build biodiversity offsets into the action plan.
As highlighted in Niche’s recent articles, a nationally consistent biodiversity offsetting scheme and credits market could effectively channel private funding into landscape-scale restoration.
For example, the NSW Biodiversity Offset scheme is considered a well-functioning, credible market, underpinned by environmental experts delivering on-ground impacts. If an approach like this was mandated for developers across the country, there would be significant additional funding going towards activities that align with the biodiversity targets.
Not considering offsets as a valid mechanism to support environmental protection and restoration is a failure to capitalise on a tried and tested solution.
The path forward
If Australia is serious about halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030, aligning policy, markets and regulation at a national scale will be essential. We will see how the strategy becomes reality with the ongoing rollout of EPBC reforms and how quickly progress can be made on the ‘short-term quick win’ actions outlined in the plan for 2028.
At Niche, we will continue protecting and restoring nature across all aspects of our work – including ecological impact assessments, biodiversity offsetting, tree planting and land restoration, and nature repair and carbon projects.
And we will continue advocating for the opportunities for businesses, investors and landholders to value nature.
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About the author
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Dr Amanda Griffith BSc (Hons), PhD, Accredited BAM Assessor
Manager – Natural Capital
