Landcomm: Integrating Carbon and Biodiversity into Land Development

Landcom is a state-owned corporation mandated to deliver affordable and sustainable communities within NSW. 

It has committed to carbon neutrality and ultimately pursuing nature positive outcomes, meeting and exceeding obligations under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW) (BC Act). In pursuing these objectives, it is vital to Landcom that its program of action is of high integrity and inspires innovative pathways for the land development sector, whilst also creating benefits for the communities served by Landcom.

Landcom sought to take a proactive approach in mitigating its climate and nature impact by utilising its own land assets. The aim was to explore opportunities for generating carbon credits and biodiversity offsets, thereby turning environmental responsibilities into tangible benefits.

To address this challenge, Anthesis collaborated with Australian Wetlands Consulting (AWC). Together, they combined market leadership in carbon and biodiversity offsets expertise to propose an innovative approach to Landcom to meet its objectives.

The project involved developing a prioritisation matrix to demonstrate suitable schemes, including carbon, biodiversity offset, and other nature schemes, that could apply to Landcom’s land portfolio.

Anthesis and AWC proposed to tailor this matrix into a Carbon and Biodiversity Values Screening Tool to provide a process overview. This tool was carefully aligned with Landcom’s existing processes and tools, building on current practices rather than creating additional ones.

This strategic groundwork equips Landcom with a framework to guide future land development approaches, aiming for positive carbon neutrality and nature outcomes.

Learn about Landcom’s broader objective to deliver low-carbon, resource-efficient and environmentally sensitive places.