Blue carbon credits in Australia: what you can — and can't — buy

What are blue carbon credits in Australia?

In Australia, carbon credits are issued as Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) under the ACCU Scheme, which is administered by the Clean Energy Regulator. One ACCU broadly represents a measured tonne of emissions avoided or removed, delivered through an approved method with rules for measurement and verification.

"Blue carbon" is a narrower term: it refers to carbon captured and stored by coastal and marine ecosystems. In the Australian scheme, the approved blue carbon method is focused on tidal restoration of coastal wetlands — restoring natural tidal flow to areas that support mangroves, saltmarsh and seagrass, so those ecosystems can re-establish and store carbon in their soils and vegetation. So when people talk about blue carbon offsets in Australia today, they're generally talking about coastal wetland restoration, not open-water seaweed.

Can you buy kelp or seaweed blue carbon credits in Australia?

This is the part to be clear-eyed about: you generally cannot buy verified kelp or seaweed (macroalgae) blue carbon credits in Australia today. Macroalgae is not an established method under the ACCU Scheme. The science of how much and how durably kelp stores carbon, and the crediting frameworks that would turn that into a verified offset, are still emerging.

That matters because the term "blue carbon" gets stretched in marketing. If someone offers to sell you "verified kelp carbon credits" or "seaweed offsets" in Australia, it's worth pausing — there isn't an established, regulated method behind those claims yet. To go deeper, see our explainers on blue carbon in Australia and how much carbon seaweed sequesters.

Ocean Greens does not sell verified carbon credits. We restore kelp forests, and we're honest about the fact that kelp crediting is not yet an established offset pathway.

How to assess legitimate carbon credits in Australia

If your goal is to buy genuine offsets, the safest path is to stay inside the regulated system. ACCUs are bought and sold through the scheme and through carbon marketplaces, and the key test is simple: are the credits backed by a real, approved method with transparent measurement and verification? Credits that can't point to that are worth treating with caution.

The authority on what counts as a legitimate Australian carbon credit is the Clean Energy Regulator, which administers the ACCU Scheme and publishes the approved methods. We'd point you there as the source of truth rather than to any single marketplace, price or registry — and we deliberately don't quote prices here, because they move and vary by method.

How to support ocean-climate impact now

Here's the honest pivot. If you want to back kelp restoration today — not buy an offset — you can fund the work directly. For individuals, teams and companies who care about the ocean's role in climate, Ocean Greens offers three ways in:

• Adopt-a-Farm: for individuals and teams who want to fund a stretch of kelp restoration and follow its progress.
• Brand & corporate partnerships: for companies that want to support restoration at scale and tell that story credibly.
• Investment: for those who want to back the company building the restoration model itself.

To be unambiguous: these are ways to fund restoration, not to purchase verified carbon credits. What your contribution supports is the work and its co-benefits — biodiversity, fisheries, coastal protection and, over time, carbon drawdown. You can read more about the bigger picture on our rewilding Australia page and how the engine works on seaweed farming in Australia.