Key environmental compliance focus areas for 2026/7

1 July 2026

What should environment teams focus on in 2026/7?

The first quarter of the new financial year gives you a perfect time to hit pause and reflect on what’s ahead for your team, your organisation and your sector in 2026/7. For those in environmental risk management, where putting out fires can be a full-time job, it can also be a good opportunity to evaluate the big things (and the small things) that will make a difference in the year (and the years) ahead. It is important to be strategic about your focus and investment in compliance and governance. Particularly so if budget is limited. Whilst a “one size fits all” approach to environmental matters should never replace a bespoke plan tailored to your specific needs, in this article, I share some of my thoughts as a lawyer advising corporations, state and local government on some of the key areas that should be considered in any initial strategic planning.

What are the biggest environmental risks for Australian businesses in 2026/7?

I’ve identified 5 key areas that are worth paying attention to in 2026/7:

• waste management

• training and the implementation of compliance systems

• engaging stakeholders and communities through early and effective consultation

• biodiversity conservation & nature-based laws

• increased significant regulatory enforcement - including against directors personally

1 - Waste management and compliance

This risk covers everything that is happening with respect to waste generation, transport, disposal and recycling in the waste supply chain. It impacts those in the waste sector and those whose businesses generate waste, which has to be disposed of, or recycled. Waste is one of the most visible environmental impacts of any business, but it deserves particular attention because:

• waste regulation is prescriptive and complex with specific handling, storage and transport requirements;

• for many clients, waste can be hazardous and expose the organisation not only to environmental, health and safety risks, but also to risks associated with contamination of land or groundwater;

• environmental regulators (EPAs) are continuing to focus on compliance with waste regulation, with a consistent and increasing focus on waste-related enforcement and prosecutions.

A great place to start in managing waste is to do an audit or review of each of your waste streams. This should start from whether or not you receive any wastes to your sites; then consider what you do to manage wastes at your sites (how they are handled, stored or processed); and ultimately how they are transported from your site and disposed of, or recycled.

2 - Implementing your management system effectively through training

Many businesses will already have an environmental risk management system. This may be a formal EMS or components of one. If you don’t have a systematic way of managing environmental risks and legal compliance in environmental matters, this should be top priority for 2026/7.

If you do have an EMS, then there are three things that always require attention:

• ensuring that the policies, procedures and standard operating procedures that you have established are actually up-to-date, consistent with current law, reflective of your current risks and industry best practice. If they are not up-to-date and haven’t been reviewed for some time, there is a real risk that your employees and contractors may do the wrong thing by following the outdated policy. Annual review (sometimes more frequent review) is often needed to ensure things are up to date;

• legal compliance requirements that sit outside the environmental risk management framework. I mean things like filing annual returns and specific data requirements. Managing sure that these are captured additional to any environmental risks being managed is critical;

• training for all levels of the organisation. This is a crucial part of the effectiveness of any environmental management system. It is a prerequisite to ensuring compliance because people can only do the right thing if they know how to do it and are aware that there are requirements (or policies etc) for them to follow.

If you have to prioritise one thing this year, ensuring that personnel are effectively trained in environmental risk and your compliance arrangements is critical.

3 - Engaging stakeholders and communities through early and effective consultation

Stakeholder engagement has always been an important part of any project. Whether that’s a physical project, such as new electricity generation project, or a change of policy from a government agency, or even a change in direction within a business which may impact external stakeholders (such as customers).

Early and effective stakeholder consultation is going to be critical in 2026/7 and the years ahead as social impact and social licence continue to take centre stage in environmental impact assessment processes as well as for business reporting, customers and investors. It is a key theme of ESG.

If you are embarking on any project, critical things to seek legal and consulting advice on and manage effectively from the outset are:

• the design and project alternatives for achieving a particular outcome and the opportunity for stakeholders to engage and meaningfully shape optimal project outcomes;

• the identification of stakeholders, including First Nations communities, and ensuring that there are initial and ongoing meaningful engagement channels throughout project design, approvals and delivery;

• ensuring that stakeholder engagement looks like best practice, whatever your sector. Whilst stakeholder engagement guidance may not exist specifically for your project, there are increasingly detailed policy and standards guidance in a range of sectors for example, in renewable energy generation and transmission projects and under Federal EPBC Act standards. These standards and policies can be highly influential to assessing what “good” looks like; and

• some decisions or policy changes may specifically require consultation to ensure natural justice before changes are made that can impact stakeholders.

Project delivery (including its very viability, cost and timeliness), social licence and reputation will all be adversely impacted if your organisation doesn’t give this issue the weight it deserves.

4 - Biodiversity conservation & nature-based laws

Back in March 2026, I addressed the Australian Environment Business Network’s National Conference on Environment, Climate Change & Energy on the topic of reform to the Federal Government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and the need for environment managers and business leaders to get up to speed on the key changes. The reform (which is continuing to be implemented through December 2026) is significant to any client undertaking an activity that may impact upon a matter of national environmental significance (MNES) - a protected environmental value under the EPBC Act. This includes clients who will be taking actions in the future that require environmental assessment under the EPBC Act, as well as clients who already hold an approval (whether a controlled action decision with conditions, or a decision that an action is not a controlled action if conducted in a particular manner).

For those looking to undertake activities or projects regulated by the amended regime, it will be important to familiarise yourself with the changes to the assessment process, including the likelihood of updated bilateral assessment agreements with the states and territories. There are opportunities for expedited assessment under a new 30-day streamlined assessment pathway.

Perhaps more importantly, there are new requirements that proposals will have to meet including:

• proposals will need to be consistent with new National Environmental Standards;

• there can be no unacceptable impacts; and

• the action must avoid, mitigate, and repair damage to protected matters with any “residual impacts” offset to achieve a “net gain”.

Each of these requirements, will need serious consideration and environmental consulting and legal advice given the uncertainty over aspects of the new laws.

For those already in possession of approvals, the new national Environmental Protection Agency, created as part of the reform package, now has significantly increased powers of enforcement and sanctions (namely significantly higher maximum penalties). The new EPA is resourced by sophisticated personnel and is an independent agency. The new powers enable the equivalent of a “stop works” order, making the agency a credible deterrent.

In addition to EPBC Act reform, the emergence and increased significance of nature-based risks and reporting is significant in Australia. In part this is through the introduction of Australia's mandatory climate-related financial disclosures regime, as organisations should now be cognisant of the relationship between climate-related risks and opportunities and nature, which may need to be disclosed. It is also because the Australian Government will likely introduce further mandatory reporting in relation to nature, following the work of the International Sustainability Standards Board on biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystems services.

Whereas in former years, many organisations may not have given their EPBC Act approvals prominence in their EMS, it is critical to now familiarise yourself with requirements.

We recommend undertaking a legal review of EPBC Act approvals (both the conditions on a controlled action decision, and the requirements on a particular manner decision) to the extent of any doubt.

5 - Increased significant regulatory enforcement - including against directors personally

As previously noted in earlier blog posts, there have been noteworthy regulatory changes in the last 5 years in Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland and Federal level to strengthen the independence and/or powers of environmental regulators. In addition, in most jurisdictions, environmental regulators continue to publicise prosecutions and other enforcement activity. This speaks to the ever-increasing enforcement sophistication of environment regulators around Australia.

One aspect that demands attention is the prosecution of directors and officers (senior managers) for offences of their corporations. The ability of environmental regulators to bring such proceedings additional to, or as an alternative to, prosecutions of a body corporate is known as derivative liability. All Australian States and Territories have such laws. They make directors and officers automatically liable for environmental offences of their corporation, unless the defendant director/officer can avail herself /himself of a defence.

Whereas the prosecution of directors was previously used mainly in initial stages of legal proceedings and potentially capable of being plea bargained, this is now an area that is more commonly seen being taken through to criminal proceedings. It is not simply small business or sole traders that are the subject of such prosecutions. Directors of large enterprises are now potentially likely to be the subject of prosecutions.

In view of this, it is imperative to ensure that directors and officers are environmentally aware and briefed in the risks of the business and that they understand the actions they must take, consistent with directors duties, and the due diligence / all reasonable steps defences so that they can take appropriate management action to avoid such a scenario.

The legal stuff

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