What MCC is, and where the programme stands
Marine Conservation Credits (MCC) is a standards and registry programme for verified marine conservation outcomes. MCC writes the methodologies, operates the registry, and will oversee independent validation and verification of projects in five methodology families — blue carbon, ecosystem restoration, fisheries, pollution prevention, and marine protected area management. Retiring an MCC credit is a documented contribution to marine conservation. It is not an offset.
Figures are read live from the registry database through the same visibility rule as the public register and the API.
Four statements, each checkable against the register or the corpus
The rulebook is written
The standards series — charter and constitution, programme standard, methodology framework, VVB accreditation and performance, governance and appeals, registry operations and AI governance — is in force in consolidated form under founder decision FD-2026-08-24, with the counterparty policies and the cross-cutting policies for safeguards, buffer pool management, corresponding adjustments, host-country authorisation and sustainable development contributions. A rewritten suite of 28 texts opened for public consultation on 22 October 2026; nothing in it is adopted by that opening.
The registry platform is operational
The full pathway — project submission, AI-assisted completeness screening with mandatory human review, stakeholder consultation, issuance with serialised units, transfer, and retirement with public certificates — is built and runs end to end. No real credit has been issued and no verification body is yet accredited. The registry says so on every relevant surface, and the public API publishes real records only.
Verification is being contracted
The VVB accreditation pack — application form, assessment manual and requirements — is complete, and outreach to candidate validation and verification bodies is under way. Validation of the first project can begin once the first VVB is accredited and contracted; the standard allows 120–150 business days for validation.
The first projects are in the register
The lead pilot is a ghost-gear recovery project in the Gulf of Gabès, Tunisia, developed with a Tunisian university partner and submitted to the register as MCC-2026-0001 under MCC-M008 (F04, pollution prevention). First verified issuance follows the verification and authorisation timelines, and is not announced ahead of them.
Six layers, from standard-setting to the serial record
Each layer produces a record the next one depends on. None of them can approve its own work: the standards are consulted on publicly, intake is admitted by a human, verification is independent, and the registry enforces the lifecycle in the database.
Standards
Charter and constitution, programme standard, methodology framework, VVB standard, governance and appeals, registry operations and AI governance — versioned, published under a recorded hash, and changed only through public consultation.
Project intake
Digital submission of the Project Design Document, boundary, monitoring plan and safeguards documentation. A human decision admits a submission into review; until then it is private.
Monitoring, reporting and verification
Satellite remote sensing — Sentinel-2, monthly — alongside mandatory field sampling, sediment coring and dive surveys. Indices are written to the registry per project; anomalies route to expert review.
AI-assisted review
AI screens submissions for completeness and consistency under MCC-850. Every decision that moves a project or a credit is made by an accountable human; the governance standard forbids anything else.
Human governance
A Governing Board, review committees and appeal forums as the instruments constitute them. The programme publishes which bodies are constituted and which are not, rather than implying a bench it does not yet have.
Issuance and registry
Serialised units with Luhn check digits, lifecycle transitions enforced in the database, immutable audit logging and public records by default. Article 6 status is recorded per unit — never assumed.
Rules written for marine ecosystems from the start
The ocean covers seven tenths of the planet and sits at the centre of climate, biodiversity, fisheries and coastal livelihoods, yet marine ecosystems remain a small and poorly served corner of environmental credit systems built for land. Methodologies retrofitted from forests do not describe tidal dynamics, salinity, water-column processes or the soil-carbon pathways of mangrove, seagrass and kelp.
MCC writes ocean-native rules, quantifies conservation outcomes on their own terms where carbon is not the relevant unit, and is built to be audited: public methodologies, independent verification and a registry whose every record is checkable without an account.
Transparency
Credits, projects, standards and methodologies are public through the registry; decisions are published with their reasons.
Scientific rigour
Methodologies are drafted against IPCC guidance and peer-reviewed literature, and pass independent peer review and public consultation before adoption.
Inclusivity
A framework designed for diverse marine conservation approaches, from community-held coastal projects to protected-area management at scale.
Additionality
Credits represent conservation beyond business as usual, established through baseline assessment and tested at validation.
Integrity
Independent verification, buffer pools, permanence safeguards and data-layer enforcement protect credit quality.
Outcomes
Projects are credited for measurable, independently verified conservation outcomes, monitored for as long as the methodology requires.
Held in trust for the programme, not for a platform
The platform is currently held under a Luxembourg-domiciled company as a transitional arrangement. The intended structure is a Norwegian aksjeselskap with three-way ownership — founders, investors and a university foundation — with a defined path for the foundation to become the long-term owner and operator of the programme.
Incorporation decisions rest with the founding board and will be announced when made. How authority is split inside the programme — three bands, no self-certification — is set out on the governance page, and every decision is published in the decision register.
What are marine conservation credits?
Serialised units representing independently verified outcomes in marine and coastal ecosystems. The MCC programme issues two: MCC-CC (coastal carbon sequestration) and MCC-MCU (conservation units quantifying biodiversity, habitat and species outcomes independently of carbon). A verified co-benefit is recorded as a label on an issued unit rather than as a unit of its own; the former hybrid credit, MCC-HYB, is abolished under founder decision FD-2026-09-03. Each credit is tracked on the MCC Registry with a permanent issuance and retirement record.
Are MCC credits the same as carbon offsets?
No. MCC credits are issued and retired under a contribution-first framework (MCC-800 and the Claims Policy). Buyers cannot use MCC retirements to support claims of carbon offsetting, neutrality, or net-zero. Permitted retirement language is published in the Claims Policy and enforced at the point of retirement.
Which international frameworks does MCC reference?
MCC methodologies are designed against the Paris Agreement Article 6, ICVCM Core Carbon Principles, IPCC Tier 2/3 guidance (including the 2013 Wetlands Supplement), ISO 14064/14065, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the UN Decade of Ocean Science, and TNFD/EU CSRD nature-related disclosure practice. These are design references only: MCC has not been assessed under, endorsed by, or found eligible under any of them, and Article 6 status is an attribute recorded per unit, never assumed.
How does MCC ensure credit integrity?
Each project must complete methodology validation, an independent third-party verification opinion under ISO 14065, governance approval, and continuous Sentinel-2 monitoring. A project-specific buffer share is withheld at issuance. Reversal events trigger buffer release and quarantine. Double counting is prevented at the registry. Where a host country authorises a unit under Article 6, the authorization reference and any corresponding-adjustment evidence reported by that Party are recorded as attributes on the serial record.
Who can develop projects on MCC?
Governments, NGOs, community organisations, research institutions and private-sector developers can register projects. Proponents must demonstrate additionality, host-country no-objection where applicable, free prior and informed consent of affected communities, and conformance with the relevant MCC methodology family.
Can I purchase MCC credits today?
No credits have been issued yet. The programme is operational and accepting applications; the register lists projects from acceptance into review onward, and the first issuance follows independent validation and verification. Buyers, investors and host countries are invited to contact the programme administrator to participate in the pilot phase.
Project developers, verifiers, buyers and host countries
The programme welcomes participation from marine conservation project developers, scientists, validation and verification bodies and stakeholders worldwide.