Australia: Environmental Law

Victoria's new Sustainable Data Centre Action Plan introduces comprehensive planning, renewable energy, and community benefit requirements for data centre developments. The regulations establish location restrictions, noise limits, renewable energy mandates, and water supply requirements while creating new referral authorities to oversee compliance. These changes will significantly impact how developers and operators plan and execute data centre projects in Victoria's rapidly expanding market.

Our monthly ESG bulletin provides a targeted snapshot of key developments we see as reflecting the “must know” trends in the Australian market and, where relevant, the international market.

Asia-Pacific data centre expansion is creating unprecedented insurance challenges as rapid infrastructure growth strains regional water and power resources. Could intensive resource consumption by data centres generate environmental liability claims from affected communities and regulators? And are traditional property insurance models adequately capturing the contingent business interruption risks created by concentrated digital infrastructure dependencies?

The Queensland Court of Appeal has delivered a landmark decision on land valuation methodology for renewable energy projects, examining whether a 500MW solar farm and battery storage facility should be valued as rural or non-rural land. The case centered on a dispute involving nearly six million dollars in valuation differences and raises critical questions about how development approvals for renewable energy infrastructure impact statutory land valuations under Queensland's Land Valuation Act 2010.

The NSW Government has released a comprehensive data centre policy framework establishing new guidelines for electricity network connections, planning approvals, and environmental standards. These reforms require data centres to contribute to network infrastructure costs, procure renewable energy, and demonstrate demand flexibility while offering streamlined approval pathways for compliant projects.

Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 reforms continue to progress, with the commencement of further provisions and the introduction of four new National Environmental Standards.

Although the suite of Bills was passed in November 2025, the Senate Committee continued its inquiry on the draft legislative instruments and on the first two draft National Environmental Standards (NES) – the NES for Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) and the NES for Environmental Offsets. Several of the Senate Committee’s 14 recommendations relate to these draft NES.

Treasury's latest consultation on Australia's Sustainable Investment Product Labelling regime introduces mandatory consumer-facing disclosures and asset-based thresholds for financial products marketed with sustainability claims. The proposed framework aims to combat greenwashing while providing retail investors with clearer information about the sustainability characteristics of their investments. Meanwhile, new gender equality targets take effect for large employers, and multiple statutory reviews are res

The NSW Government has proposed a new Climate Change and Natural Hazards State Environmental Planning Policy to consolidate climate change controls and strengthen climate risk assessment in development planning.