Frequently Asked Questions about Compensation
Answers on the compensation obligation, eco-points, compensation areas, CEF and FCS measures, and replacement afforestation, sorted by topic.
The compensation for a building project touches on three areas of law: the impact mitigation regulation under nature conservation law, special species protection and, where forest is affected, forestry law. The following questions are sorted by these topics. Where an answer needs more space, the link leads to the dedicated page with the full version.
Compensation obligation and procedure
When the impact mitigation regulation applies, what it requires, and when it becomes relevant in the project.
As soon as the project is an impact within the meaning of § 14 BNatSchG, that is, it changes the form or use of land in a way that could significantly affect the natural balance or the landscape. What matters is not the size of the project but the significance of its effect. Even smaller projects can be subject to a compensation requirement, for example where high-value habitat types or soil functions are affected.
Through the impact assessment in the landscape management plan. The condition before and after the impact is assessed, usually using habitat types with point values, supplemented by criteria such as soil function or water balance. The difference is the compensation requirement. Which procedure applies depends on the federal state and the responsible permitting authority.
As early as possible, at the latest during preliminary planning. Two reasons: the required spatial link determines which sites can even be considered, and availability in the affected natural region can be checked early. Above all, though, CEF measures under species protection law need lead time, because they must be effective before the impact takes place.
Then a compensation payment under § 15 Abs. 6 BNatSchG comes into consideration. It is expressly subordinate: the authority first requires proof that compensation in kind is not possible. It is therefore unsuitable as a planning basis, especially as several federal states deliberately set the amount so that it is not a convenient alternative.
Eco-points and eco-account
How eco-points arise, what they cost, and where their limits lie.
Through the ecological upgrading of a site, carried out ahead of a specific impact and credited by the nature conservation authority in an eco-account under § 16 BNatSchG. What is assessed is the difference between the starting condition and the target condition. An eco-point is therefore not a certificate but the numerical representation of a measure actually implemented.
There is no uniform nationwide price. The value depends on the assessment procedure of the federal state, the type of measure, the location within the natural region, and availability in the affected district. In regions under high pressure on land, eco-points are noticeably scarcer. We do not quote list prices, but calculate based on your specific requirement and location.
As a rule, no. Compensation law is, in significant part, the law of the individual federal states, the assessment procedures are not transferable between one another, and compensation is meant to have a spatial link to the impact. That is why we hold land and eco-accounts nationwide and always allocate from the stock that is relevant to your impact location.
The measures in our eco-accounts are already implemented and approved, so the development time of your own site does not apply. What determines the timing after that is not the site but coordination with the permitting authority on the allocation. We do not give a blanket delivery promise, but we can give a reliable assessment for your specific case.
No. The impact mitigation regulation and special species protection are separate levels of assessment with different standards. A CEF measure must be effective exactly there and exactly for the affected species, a distant eco-account does not meet that. A dual function is possible in individual cases but must be technically justified and confirmed by the authority.
Compensation areas
When a specific site is needed, how it is secured, and what happens afterwards.
When the permitting authority requires a close spatial and functional link, when certain habitat types or soil functions are affected, or when species protection requirements are added. Often the answer is a combination: eco-points for the general requirement, a dedicated site for the species protection conditions.
For as long as the impairment caused by the impact persists. For permanent impacts such as buildings or transmission routes, that means indefinitely. Securing is achieved, depending on the law of the federal state concerned, through easements, urban development agreements, or entry in the compensation register. The specific management obligations are set out in the permit decision.
In most cases the service, not the land. The site remains in greeNature's holdings or with the original owner, the measure is secured in favour of your project and noted in the compensation register. This saves you land acquisition, land registry administration, and the ongoing responsibility for management and monitoring.
That is planned for. Weather, browsing damage, flooding or pressure from invasive species can delay development. The performance review records such deviations, and remedial steps follow, such as replanting, a changed mowing regime or additional management work. Because implementation, management and monitoring all sit with us, we adjust the course without you having to place a further order.
For landowners
What it means to provide a site for compensation measures.
No. As a rule the land remains your property and is made available under contract for the duration of the measure. A usage payment is made for this. greeNature bears the costs of implementation, management, monitoring and documentation.
Above all, sites currently of low ecological value, because that is where the achievable upgrade is greatest: intensively farmed arable land, intensively managed grassland, conifer stands with little structure, slopes at risk of erosion, waterlogged hollows and narrow residual parcels. Also important are the location within the right natural region and clear ownership.
For many types of measure, yes, but extensively: late mowing, reduced stocking density, no fertiliser or plant protection products. With production-integrated compensation, the land even stays entirely in production. What is specifically possible is agreed jointly before the contract is signed.
The parcel and cadastral district, the site size, and the current use. This allows the location within the natural region to be determined and an assessment made of what upgrade would be possible. The assessment is free of charge and non-binding.
Species protection under CEF and FCS
The second level of assessment, which most often causes delays in the procedure.
CEF measures under § 44 Abs. 5 BNatSchG maintain the ecological function of an affected breeding site and resting place within its spatial context, so that the prohibition never actually applies. They must be effective before the impact takes place. FCS measures belong to an exception under § 45 Abs. 7 BNatSchG and secure the conservation status at population level, but may in return be located further away.
That depends on the target species. A replacement roost for bats can be installed quickly, a habitat structure for the sand lizard needs at least one growing season, and extensively managed grassland for meadow-breeding birds develops over several years. What matters is not physical completion but ecological effectiveness.
That follows from the species protection assessment. Frequently affected are open-country birds such as the skylark, northern lapwing and black-tailed godwit, reptiles such as the sand lizard and smooth snake, numerous bat species, amphibians such as the yellow-bellied toad and great crested newt, the hazel dormouse, and large birds such as the red kite and black stork.
Through monitoring, the scope of which is set out in the permit decision. This covers the implementation check, that is, whether the measure was built as planned, and the function check, that is, whether the target species takes up the structure. If the effect fails to appear, corrective steps are taken and documented for the authority.
Woodland and replacement afforestation
What applies when a project takes up woodland.
When woodland is cleared and permanently converted to another type of use. The conversion requires a permit under the relevant Landeswaldgesetz, and the permit is, as a rule, linked to the condition that new woodland must be established elsewhere.
No. Both obligations run in parallel, fall under different bodies of law, and are handled by different authorities. Double counting is only possible if the authorities expressly allow it. Anyone who overlooks this often only discovers the second obligation in the permit decision.
The federal states regulate this differently. The principle is like-for-like replacement by area, and many states provide for higher factors where particularly valuable stands are affected, such as protection forest, amenity forest or forest under a ban on clearance. What is decisive is the specific permit decision and the forestry authority's assessment of the stand.
Suited to the site and with an eye to climate developments. On heavy clay and Keuper soils, usually oak and hornbeam, supplemented with small-leaved lime, field maple and wild service tree; in floodplains, black alder and European white elm; on dry sites, sessile oak, field maple and wild fruit trees. Pure conifer plantations are now rarely approvable.
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