Labor has struck a deal with the Greens to overhaul federal environmental protection laws on parliament’s final sitting day of the year, ending a five-year struggle to deliver on Graeme Samuel’s blueprint to fix the broken system.

The Greens have agreed to support Labor’s re-write of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act after securing further concessions from the government amid tense and prolonged negotiations. The deal will sideline Sussan Ley’s Coalition, which refused to yield on their demands for more business-friendly concessions in exchange for supporting the legislation.

_{Sign up: AU Breaking News email}

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, announced the deal just after 8am on Thursday, saying the changes would herald “a new era for the environment and productivity in Australia”.

“This is a landmark day for the environment in this country,” he said. “It is also a good day for business in this country by providing more certainty, reducing delays and making sure that we get better outcomes and improved productivity.”

The deal will clear the path for Labor to ram the legislation through the Senate on Thursday, handing Albanese a major political win to end 2025. After negotiations with the Greens, Albanese said the government had agreed to place further environmental standards on the forestry industry.

The prime minister also said the government was setting up a $300m fund for the forestry industry to support jobs and to fund equipment to modernise the industry.

“We are removing and sunsetting the exemption from the EPBC Act for high-risk land-clearing and regional forestry agreements so they comply with the same rules and standards as other industries,” he said.

“This is about using science and evidence to prove all forestry in Australia is undertaken at the highest standard. The government is backing forestry and timber workers through our forest growth fund that will invest in new equipment and facilities to enable industry modernisation and reprocessing.”

Albanese became actively involved in the final stages of negotiations, speaking directly with his Greens counterpart, Larissa Waters, in a bid to resolve a weeks-long standoff. He praised the “maturity” of Waters and the Greens’ environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, during discussions.

Albanese said he had offered to meet with Ley to discuss the environmental legislation but that the Coalition had not been as open to negotiations as the Greens were. He said they had flagged more amendments they wanted for their support, beyond the demands they had raised publicly.

Labor’s Senate manager, Katy Gallagher, said the government would pass 10 bills through the Senate on Thursday – the last scheduled day of parliament for 2025 – after reaching agreement with the Greens, including the environmental laws as well as a $50m funding boost to the ABC.