Inland Rail reaches Narrabri to North Star Phase 1 biodiversity offset target
Inland Rail has met a key environmental target of its Australian and New South Wales Government approvals for the completed Narrabri to North Star Phase 1 project, with the retirement of 20,461 biodiversity credits, compensating for impacts to native vegetation on the project.
February 26, 2025
Dave Fleming, Inland Rail Environment Manager Offsets, at one of the Biodiversity Stewardship Sites which has enabled the retirement of thousands of biodiversity credits and compensating for impacts to native vegetation on the Narrabri to North Star Phase 1 project.
Inland Rail acquired the biodiversity credits and their retirement removes the credit from the biodiversity credit trading market, so that it cannot be used to offset impacts from other projects.
In acquiring the credits, Inland Rail created and/or fully funded 10 new Biodiversity Stewardship Sites (BSS) across NSW, predominantly with local landholders, enabling them to actively manage their offset sites to achieve improvements to biodiversity on their farms.
Inland Rail has been actively progressing the establishment of new BSS as well as acquiring biodiversity credits from the offset market to supply offset credits for multiple projects south of Narromine.
Since 2019, Inland Rail has established a total of 17 new BSS, including 15 in partnership with local landholders, and has another four applications in progress.
These sites will protect more than 12,500 hectares of native vegetation and habitat and will be managed in perpetuity.
In addition, Inland Rail has been acquiring credits from other BSS holders and has purchased more than 60,000 biodiversity credits, ensuring that landholders can start to actively manage their sites for biodiversity gain.
Stephen Jones, Inland Rail Executive Director of Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability, said:
“Preserving our landscape and caring for the habitats of native Australian flora and fauna is paramount to Inland Rail as we build this project through regional Australia.
“It is exciting that we are able to set new benchmarks as we go about meeting our obligations to the environment through the NSW Biodiversity Offset Market and assist landholders in proactively managing their sites to enhance biodiversity.
“Inland Rail is forming positive partnerships with landholders to leave a considerable legacy of protected and enriched environments.
