NSW exhibits draft Climate Change SEPP and Blue Carbon amendments under EPA Act Section 1.3

Overview of NSW Draft Climate Change SEPP and Blue Carbon Amendments

The NSW Government has placed two significant planning reforms on public exhibition that will change how climate risk is assessed in development applications across the state. The draft Climate Change and Natural Hazards State Environmental Planning Policy (Climate Change SEPP) and accompanying Blue Carbon Amendments were released on 6 August 2026, setting out a statutory, risk-based model for hazard management that goes well beyond the flood and bushfire overlays practitioners currently rely on. For environmental consultants, planning lawyers and their developer clients, this is not a minor administrative update. It is a structural shift in what an environmental impact statement or development assessment report needs to demonstrate before a consent authority will sign off.

The Climate Change SEPP is intended to replace the existing State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience and Hazards) 2021 in its entirety. Where the current SEPP treats bushfire and coastal hazards largely as fixed spatial overlays, the draft policy introduces dynamic, risk-based provisions and, for the first time, gives urban heat impacts a formal place in the planning framework alongside bushfire and coastal risk. This matters because urban heat has historically sat outside standard hazard mapping used in NSW development assessment, despite being one of the more measurable and increasingly costly climate exposures for urban infill and greenfield projects alike.

Running in parallel, the Blue Carbon Amendments propose changes across multiple existing SEPPs to remove planning barriers for coastal wetland, saltmarsh and mangrove restoration projects. This is a nature-positive reform aimed squarely at making blue carbon credit generation and coastal ecosystem rehabilitation commercially and administratively viable in NSW, rather than something proponents have to navigate through inconsistent or overlapping consent pathways.

Key Provisions Under EP&A Act Section 1.3

Both instruments operationalise a statutory object inserted into Section 1.3 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW), which now requires consent authorities and other planning bodies to “promote resilience to climate change and natural disasters through adaptation, mitigation, preparedness and prevention.” This is the legal hook that gives the draft SEPP its teeth. Once finalised, consent authorities will be assessing development applications against a statutory object that explicitly names climate adaptation and disaster preparedness, not just against a hazard overlay on a planning map.

The Climate Change SEPP is designed as a full replacement for the SEPP (Resilience and Hazards) 2021, meaning practitioners should expect the current instrument to be repealed rather than amended. The draft retains coverage of bushfire and coastal hazard management but adds specific planning provisions for urban heat impacts, an area that has previously been managed inconsistently, if at all, through voluntary design guidance rather than binding planning controls. The reform is framed as aligning with the NSW State Disaster Mitigation Plan 2024 to 2026, suggesting future guidance or technical criteria under the SEPP will draw on that plan’s risk categorisation and mitigation priorities.

The Blue Carbon Amendments take a different regulatory approach. Rather than creating a single new instrument, they amend existing State Environmental Planning Policies to streamline approval pathways for coastal wetland, saltmarsh and mangrove restoration works. The stated intent is to remove planning barriers that currently slow or complicate these projects, which supports the growth of blue carbon offset markets and marine habitat rehabilitation as commercially viable activities under the NSW planning system.

As both instruments are currently on public exhibition, transition and savings provisions have not yet been finalised in detail. Practitioners should anticipate that legacy development applications and master plans lodged before enactment will likely be subject to transitional arrangements, while new master plans and DAs submitted after the SEPP takes effect will need to demonstrate compliance with the new risk-based standards from the outset.

Australian context

This reform sits within a broader national trend of embedding climate risk into statutory planning and environmental assessment frameworks, rather than leaving it to voluntary corporate disclosure or non-binding guidance. NSW’s move to legislate urban heat as a planning consideration is a notable step because most Australian jurisdictions still manage heat risk through building codes, urban greening strategies or discretionary design guidelines rather than a mandatory planning instrument tied to a statutory object.

For contaminated land and site assessment practitioners, this development does not directly alter existing frameworks such as the NEPM 2013 Assessment of Site Contamination, the PFAS National Environmental Management Plan, or ANZG water quality guidelines. However, it does signal that climate resilience criteria are becoming a standard companion requirement alongside contamination and geotechnical assessments in NSW development approvals. Practitioners preparing a Phase 2 Detailed Site Investigation or Remedial Action Plan for a NSW site should expect consent authorities to increasingly ask how remediation timing, capping design and land use outcomes interact with heat exposure and coastal hazard projections, particularly for sites in urban infill or coastal zones.

The Blue Carbon Amendments are also relevant to practitioners working on coastal remediation and rehabilitation projects, where saltmarsh or mangrove restoration is sometimes proposed as part of a broader site remediation or offset strategy. Streamlined approval pathways under these amendments could reduce the planning lead time for such nature-based components, making combined remediation and restoration strategies more practical for proponents and their advisers. Practitioners with projects in coastal zones should review the exhibition materials and consider making a submission before the consultation period closes.

References and related sources

• Primary source: www.holdingredlich.com
• holdingredlich.com

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This is an iEnvi Machete news summary. Prepared by iEnvi to summarise the source article for contaminated land, groundwater, remediation, approvals and site risk professionals.

Published: 06 Aug 2026

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