Monthly Newsletter: January 2026

Welcome to the MCC newsletter, providing a quick update on key developments across our projects, capabilities, and industry insights.

In this edition, we welcome the new year, highlight some exciting new Biodiversity and Oceans projects, and discuss the Australian Government's Offshore Decommissioning Directorate.

Happy New Year!

MCC would like to wish a Happy New Year to all our clients, collaborators, and friends. We’re glad to be stepping into 2026 with you, and we hope the break gave everyone some time to unwind, reconnect, and return to the new year feeling recharged.

As we look ahead, we’re all excited about the year to come. We’ve got a number of new projects on the horizon, along with ongoing clients that continues to grow in impact and momentum.

Here’s to a year of steady progress, meaningful collaboration, and the kind of practical wins that make a real difference.

Biodiversity and Oceans

Our team are excited about two projects that have kicked off. The first is working with SPREP to support the Government of Niue to review and align the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

We are working closely with the Department of Environment in the update of the NBSAP by performing stakeholder mapping, rapid policy reviews of current targets and the NBSAP for alignment to the GBF, developing biodiversity finance plans, and assessing monitoring systems to ensure progress towards goals are measurable.

We have also just kicked off a project funded by MFAT-Climate and Biodiversity-Smart Marine Spatial Planning programme of work in the Pacific region to work with the Government of Palau to develop Palau’s Sustainable Ocean Plan. This plan will serve as a high-level, overarching framework to guide the management of Palau's marine environment and will be a crucial output of the ongoing MSP process.

Offshore Decommissioning Directorate

The Australian Government has released a consultation paper on proposed reforms to offshore oil and gas decommissioning, including changes to financial assurance arrangements. At MCC, we already see regulatory compliance as one of the sector’s biggest challenges, so these reforms are likely to be important — particularly as they may lead to future legislative changes and new guidance.

A strong focus of the paper is earlier, more transparent decommissioning planning, which mirrors a need that we’re already seeing with our clients. Through our decommissioning strategy work, MCC supports clients to navigate regulatory expectations, develop defensible strategies, and build the technical evidence needed to support approvals and title surrender.

The consultation period has been extended to 27 January 2026, with further consultation to follow as reforms are developed.