Nature’s role in meeting NSW net zero targets
The NSW Net Zero Commission is consulting about how New South Wales can meet its emissions reduction targets. Our submission focuses on how land management, conservation, and restoration can contribute to climate mitigation.
Our submission recognises that NSW’s largest emissions reductions must continue to come from energy and transport. However, there is a significant additional opportunity in how land, forests, and biodiversity are managed across the state. This includes protecting, managing, and restoring forests, bushland, and other natural areas. These actions capture carbon from the atmosphere while also supporting biodiversity and healthy landscapes.
International research cited in our submission shows that nature‑based solutions could deliver up to one‑third of the global emissions reductions needed by 2030.
Despite this, only a very small proportion of climate funding currently goes to land‑based approaches. This is a missed opportunity, particularly given NSW’s land area and existing conservation capacity.
Our submission calls on the Commission to reflect these opportunities in its advice to government.
We emphasise that protecting, managing, and restoring nature can sequester carbon while also delivering biodiversity and resilience benefits. In other words, nature‑based approaches can complement, not replace, emissions reductions in other sectors.
These approaches align with existing NSW commitments, including the NSW Plan for Nature.
Key recommendations outlined include:
- Clearly recognise protecting, managing, and restoring nature as a practical way to reduce emissions and support climate resilience.
- Highlight the opportunity to scale up nature‑based solutions across private, public, and Indigenous land in New South Wales.
- Emphasise the importance of expanding protected areas as part of meeting NSW’s climate targets, including through future changes to state forests.
- Encourage NSW to set a clear target for permanently protecting nature by 2030, consistent with national commitments.
- Recognise and elevate the knowledge, science, and leadership of First Nations in climate adaptation and mitigation.
- Draw attention to existing programs and funding that NSW could scale up or better leverage to support land‑based climate action.
