MCC-BPM Schedule 1 — Durability Classification

Document control

Field	Value
Document code	MCC-BPM Schedule 1
Title	Durability Classification
Version	1.0-draft
Status	DRAFT — FOR CONSULTATION
Date of this draft	3 September 2026
Tier	Tier 3 — a normative schedule of MCC-BPM v2.0-draft (Buffer Pool Management Policy); it has no independent existence and enters into force with MCC-BPM under its clause 17.1
Document owner	Programme Administrator (transitional, until a Secretariat is staffed — FD-2026-10-01 Schedule 1, C3)
Approved by	Not approved. Prepared for public consultation.
Decision basis	Founder Decisions FD-2026-09-03, items D1–D8 (recorded in the decision register as attested by the founder, with no executed copy filed); audit findings SYS-09, 200-04, 200-05, BUF-02
Function	Defines the durability classes consumed by MCC-100 clause 11.1, MCC-200 clause 9.1 and MCC-NPRT §2; populates the permanence-class column of the canonical Family–Methodology–Instrument Matrix (control table 2)
Language convention	British English; RFC-style normative verbs per MCC-001 clause 3.1
Consultation period	30 days (FD-2026-10-01 Schedule 1, C4), from the opening recorded on the consultation register (FD-2026-09-04 item 2; FD-2026-10-01 item 5)

NOTE (non-normative). The durability classes deferred by MCC-100 clause 11.1, MCC-200 clause 9.1 and MCC-200-T1 §9.1 are defined here and nowhere else. This Schedule exists because the audit found that a 100-year permanence claim rested on a 30-year binding commitment (SYS-09 CRITICAL): a buffer can reduce reversal risk, but it cannot create a legal commitment that does not exist. Under this Schedule, a durability designation is a statement of evidenced enforceable commitment — never an aspiration, a horizon or a marketing label.

Consultation questions

Each point below is open for comment. A proposal is the administration's proposal, put to consultation under founder direction FD-2026-10-01; it is not a rule in force. The suite is to be adopted as one instrument once its longest consultation period has closed (FD-2026-10-01 Schedule 1, C4). Because it includes the Constitution, whose amendment is within the competence of the constituted Governing Board (FD-2026-08-24 item D11, recorded in the decision register as attested by the founder, with no executed copy filed), each point below is decided by the Governing Board on adoption of the suite; a clause of this text that provides another route for adopting it alone is itself open to comment.

1. Clause S4.2 — Minimum durability class for stored-carbon crediting. Proposed: the class whose ECP requirement equals or exceeds the greater of (a) the project's crediting period plus ten years and (b) 20 years. Basis: the ten-year post-crediting minimum in limb (a) is carried from the predecessor's guarantee-period concept (clause 0122), re-purposed as an eligibility floor, not a release trigger; limb (b) reflects that class D-20 is the lowest defined class; FDP-2026-001 Part 3; FD-2026-10-01 item 4. Decided by: the Governing Board on adoption of the suite. Comments are invited on the ten-year post-crediting minimum.

S1. Purpose and scope

S1.1 This Schedule SHALL be the single source of the MCC durability classification; no methodology, document, registry field or communication SHALL define, rename or extend a durability class.

S1.2 This Schedule applies to every project crediting stored carbon (families F01 and F02, and any stored-carbon component an F03 methodology defines); it does not apply to flow-based outcomes or MCC-MOU outcomes, which carry no durability class (MCC-200 clauses 9.6–9.8).

S2. The governing principle: claim equals enforceable commitment

S2.1 A durability class is a classification of the project's evidenced enforceable commitment period (ECP) — nothing else; expected, modelled, intended or ecological longevity SHALL NOT raise a project's class above what its enforceable commitments evidence (MCC-100 clauses 11.2–11.3; SYS-09).

S2.2 The ECP is the period covered, in aggregate, by all four elements of MCC-100 clause 11.2: (a) binding legal commitments to maintain the stored carbon; (b) secured land/marine tenure or use rights; (c) funded monitoring; and (d) reversal-liability arrangements.

S2.3 The ECP SHALL be computed as the shortest period evidenced across the four elements (the weakest-link rule): an element evidenced for 40 years and another for 22 years yield an ECP of 22 years.

S2.4 The ECP SHALL be measured from the start of the project's first crediting period.

S2.5 No durability claim, class label, registry field, certificate or communication SHALL exceed the assigned class, and the words "permanent", "permanence guaranteed" or "100-year permanence" SHALL NOT be used for any project or unit unless class D-100 is assigned with full evidence (control table 6, prohibited-wording item 12).

S3. The classes

S3.1 The durability classes are:

Class	Name	ECP requirement	Summary of the evidence bar
D-20	Two-decade durability	20 years ≤ ECP < 30 years	All four S2.2 elements evidenced to at least 20 years (S3.3)
D-30	Three-decade durability	30 years ≤ ECP < 50 years	All four elements evidenced to at least 30 years; monitoring funding secured, not merely budgeted (S3.4)
D-50	Half-century durability	50 years ≤ ECP < 100 years	All four elements evidenced to at least 50 years; endowment-grade monitoring funding; wind-down protection in place (S3.5)
D-100	Century durability	ECP ≥ 100 years	All four elements evidenced to at least 100 years, including succession-proof legal commitments, tenure, funded monitoring, replenishment liability and wind-down protection covering the full period (S3.6)
U	Unclassified	ECP below the clause S4.2 minimum, or evidence incomplete	Not eligible for stored-carbon crediting (S4.2)

S3.2 There is no class named "permanent" and no open-ended class: every class is bounded by the period its evidence covers.

S3.3 Class D-20 evidence requirements. Each element SHALL be evidenced for at least 20 years from the start of the first crediting period: (a) legal commitments — executed conservation agreement, covenant, easement, concession condition or equivalent binding on the proponent and enforceable by or for the benefit of the Programme; (b) tenure — registered title, lease, licence, customary-right recognition or equivalent, with documented absence of unresolved competing claims; (c) monitoring funding — a costed monitoring plan with committed funding for the full period; (d) reversal liability — an executed instrument making the proponent's replenishment obligations of MCC-BPM Section 10 binding for the full period.

S3.4 Class D-30 evidence requirements. As D-20, extended to at least 30 years, and in addition: monitoring funding SHALL be secured by escrow, endowment, bond or an equivalent arrangement that survives proponent default, not merely budgeted; and the legal commitments SHALL bind successors in title.

S3.5 Class D-50 evidence requirements. As D-30, extended to at least 50 years, and in addition: (a) the monitoring endowment SHALL be independently held; (b) reversal-liability arrangements SHALL include security, insurance or guarantee surviving proponent insolvency; and (c) the programme-level insolvency and wind-down protections of MCC-BPM clauses 13.1–13.3 SHALL be evidenced as in force.

S3.6 Class D-100 evidence requirements. As D-50, extended to at least 100 years across every element. No project SHALL be assigned D-100 unless contracts, tenure, monitoring funding, replenishment liability and wind-down protection are each evidenced for the full 100 years (MCC-100 clause 11.3); an intention, policy commitment or renewal option that a future party may decline SHALL NOT count towards the period.

NOTE. At the date of this draft, no project in the programme record evidences any class; D-50 and D-100 are defined so that the classification is complete and forward-capable, and their evidence bars are deliberately high. The predecessor's "F01 — 100-year permanence with +30-year post-crediting monitoring" designation (Buffer Policy clauses 0069.2 and 0122.1; MCC-200 v2.0 clauses 0031.1–0031.3) claimed a century on thirty years of commitment and is deleted, not reclassified (SYS-09).

S4. Assignment, verification and change

S4.1 The durability class SHALL be proposed by the proponent with element-by-element evidence, assessed by the independent risk assessor, verified by the VVB at validation, and recorded in the registry before registration completes.

S4.2 The minimum class for stored-carbon crediting SHALL be the class whose ECP requirement equals or exceeds the greater of: (a) the project's crediting period plus ten years; and (b) 20 years. (Consultation question 1.)

S4.3 Post-crediting monitoring SHALL continue for the full ECP, funded per the class evidence (MCC-100 clause 11.4); the class does not cap monitoring at the crediting period.

S4.4 At every crediting-period renewal (MCC-200 Annex B-5) and on every reassessment trigger of MCC-NPRT §8, the class evidence SHALL be re-verified; a crediting period SHALL NOT be renewed where the remaining ECP would fall below the clause S4.2 minimum measured from the renewal date (MCC-200 Annex B-6).

S4.5 Classes D-50 and D-100 SHALL NOT be assigned to any project before the programme-level arrangements of MCC-BPM clauses 13.1 and 13.3 are evidenced (MCC-BPM clause 13.4).

S4.6 Where any element of the class evidence lapses, is breached or is impaired, the project SHALL be downgraded to the class its remaining evidence supports, with immediate effect on: permitted claims; the risk horizon of the next assessment; and crediting-period renewal eligibility; a downgrade below the clause S4.2 minimum SHALL suspend further issuance.

S4.7 A downgrade SHALL NOT cancel validly issued units (MCC-100 clause 23.5); already-issued exposure remains covered by the buffer pool and the proponent's surviving liabilities.

S4.8 Class assignments, downgrades and the evidence relied on SHALL be published in the registry, with only the redactions permitted by MCC-100 clause 20.7.

S5. Use of the class

S5.1 The class fixes the risk horizon of the non-permanence risk assessment: MCC-NPRT SHALL assess every risk factor over the full ECP (MCC-NPRT §2.3).

S5.2 The class caps every durability-related claim and registry field: the controlled wording is "assessed durability class ‹D-XX›: enforceable commitments evidenced to at least ‹XX› years from ‹start date›", and no other durability wording is permitted in claims (MCC-600, once in force, generates claim wording from this Schedule).

S5.3 The class does not of itself add or subtract buffer percentage points (MCC-BPM clause 5.5); it operates through eligibility (S4.2), the risk horizon (S5.1) and claims discipline (S5.2).

S6. Family applicability — population of control table 2's permanence-class column

S6.1 The permanence-class column of the canonical Family–Methodology–Instrument Matrix SHALL read:

Family	Permanence-class column entry
F01	Stored carbon — durability class required; minimum class D-30 (per S4.2: 20-year crediting period + 10 years); buffer participation required
F02	Stored carbon (protected stock) — durability class required; minimum class D-30 (per S4.2); buffer participation required
F03	Flow-based by default — no durability class for the LCA/GHG avoided-emission leg; any stored-carbon component a methodology defines requires a durability class, minimum D-20 (per S4.2: 7-year crediting period + 10 years, floored at 20), and buffer participation
F04	Not applicable — MCC-MOU outcomes; no durability class; no buffer participation; any separately approved GHG module is flow-based unless it credits storage
F05	Not applicable — MCC-MOU outcomes; no durability class; no buffer participation; outcome duration expressed inside the outcome metric (MCC-200 clause 9.8)

NOTE — GENERATED CONTENT (proposed population, with assessment of the MCC-200 proposal). MCC-200 v3.0-draft clause 9.6 proposes this column's population. Assessment: this Schedule follows that proposal — its stored/flow split per family is correct against control table 2 and FD-2026-09-03 item D2, and it correctly defines no class. Refinement, with reasons: this Schedule adds the minimum class per family, which MCC-200 could not state because the classes did not yet exist — D-30 for F01/F02 follows mechanically from S4.2 applied to the MCC-200 Annex B-5 crediting periods (20 years + 10), and D-20 for F03 stored-carbon components from the same rule (7 + 10, floored at 20). If the Annex B-5 crediting periods change on MCC-200's approval (its open decision OD-C1), these minima recompute under S4.2 automatically; the rule, not the numbers, is the normative content. This table binds as part of MCC-BPM on approval and is proposed for baselining into control table 2 as a conforming elaboration under FD-2026-09-03 item D2.

S6.2 A methodology MAY require a higher minimum class than this Section for its activity type, with reasons, in its MOD-08 module; it SHALL NOT require a lower one.

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End of MCC-BPM Schedule 1 (Durability Classification) version 1.0-draft. Status: DRAFT — FOR CONSULTATION. Not in force; enters into force with MCC-BPM v2.0.