Name
Jon Williamson
Job title
Principal | Strategic Market Lead - Environment & Renewable Energy
Organisation
Arup
Speaker biography
Jon Williamson is a Principal working with clients to secure approvals for large-scale renewable energy developments. With a history of working with both government and private sector clients on major projects, He brings 25 years of experience across environmental impact assessment and approvals, complex project management, engineering design, community and stakeholder engagement, and post-approval environmental management.
Speaking At
Presentation title
Increasing transparency and certainty in achieving net gain for wind energy developments
Presentation summary
The recent amendments to the EPBC Act create the potential to increase transparency and certainty for wind farm developers and communities about how residual environmental impacts will be assessed and compensation requirements determined. In the UK, biodiversity net gain (BNG) has been in place since February 2024 and has presented a range of challenges for developers, including the scope of the obligation, the application of the statutory metric (national standard), approach to offsetting, the registration requirements for biodiversity gain sites, and the use and price of statutory credits. We will present the lessons learnt from BNG in the UK for the application of the new EPBC net gain requirements in Australia, with a particular focus on the supply and cost of offsets. We will also highlight opportunities for Australia to adopt a more proactive, efficient and effective approach to offsetting for large-scale renewable developments, that can leverage the energy transition to become a catalyst for nature recovery and environmental improvement.
