October 2026
Good practice in plain sight
Australia is rewriting its environmental laws. Umwelt’s Managing Director Barbara Crossley says the key message for consultants and major project teams is surprisingly simple: show your working.
Reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 introduce new National Environmental Standards and raise the bar for projects seeking Commonwealth approval.
Proponents will face stronger expectations to avoid environmental impacts (with offsets a last resort), back decisions with robust evidence, consider alternatives and engage communities early. The new approval tests are due to take effect on or before 1 December 2026.
For Barbara, who has worked on major projects across Australia for more than 30 years, much of this isn’t new. “The best project teams have worked this way for decades. What is new is the expectation that this journey is transparent, and that proponents can demonstrate the evidence behind the decisions they’ve made.”
Show your working
“Good consultants know the time to get environmental, social and heritage considerations into project planning is early, when there is genuine opportunity to avoid impacts.”
Infrastructure Australia’s 2025 Market Capacity Report noted that environmental approvals are often addressed later in the project lifecycle, “sometimes after the business case is developed, funding secured, timelines set and designs scoped.”
This can lead to what Infrastructure Australia calls a “reactive approach” or what Barbara describes as “going backwards before a project can go forwards”. Almost half (47%) of organisations surveyed by Infrastructure Australia in 2025 nominated delays in planning and environmental approvals among their greatest project delivery risks.
Barbara has seen what happens when that work starts earlier. Environmental studies can change infrastructure locations, mine footprints or waste dump profiles, she says. Sometimes the constraints identified are significant enough to reconsider whether a project should proceed at all.
“We know early advice saves time and money. What these reforms do is demand visibility of that advice: the evidence behind the choices, the alternatives considered and how the design responded to potential impacts.
“A project proponent can't simply say they considered options. They have to show them, and they have to show how they have responded to community concerns to reshape their project. Having to share that means project teams actually have to do the work.”
Earlier is easier, evidence is essential
Infrastructure Australia has estimated that $20 billion worth of infrastructure was cancelled over the decade to 2021 as a result of community opposition. Its research found that stronger community involvement can reduce the risk of costly delays and disruption.
The EPBC reforms embed community engagement expectations across jurisdictions and sectors. “Early and effective community engagement is no longer optional. The value is in listening while there is still scope to respond, and showing how the communities’ views have been taken into account including through amendments to the project.”
For organisations already operating this way, Barbara sees the reforms as “more evolution than revolution”. But a consistent national standard “raises the bar” even for experienced project teams.
“Even in jurisdictions that were operating at a high bar, the bar is now higher. There is still detail to work through. But if you’re already gathering good evidence, considering alternatives, engaging early and genuinely looking for opportunities to avoid impacts, you’re starting from a strong position.”
Umwelt is an Australian environmental and social consultancy with more than 30 years’ experience working with industry, government and communities. Its multidisciplinary team provides environmental and social assessment, approvals and advisory services across resources, renewables, infrastructure, defence and urban development, with projects delivered in every Australian state and territory.