The Alternative Material Certificate (AMC) is a third-party verified financing mechanism designed to lower the unit costs of alternative materials by closing the price gap to fossil-based plastic.

The plastic pollution crisis has a market failure at its core. Fossil-based plastics remain artificially cheap compared to alternative materials as the externalities are not priced in, creating a structural challenge for the scaling up of alternative materials.The use of alternative materials is a critical upstream solution to achieve a decrease in overall fossil-based plastic production. It can reduce ~17 per cent of plastic in short-lived products that risk ending up as pollution.United Nations Environment Programme (2023). Turning off the Tap. How the world can end plastic pollution and create a circular economy. Nairobi.

Tackling plastic pollution requires action at every stage of the process, from upstream production to downstream management. PCX Solutions’ plastic credit scheme, the Plastic Pollution Reduction Standard (PPRS), is successfully supporting downstream interventions that are essential for combating plastic waste mismanagement, but the scale of the problem demands solutions at the production level.Regulatory pressures to reduce overall plastic production and use are increasing, but too slowly. A market-based mechanism like the AMC provides a financial incentive as a faster, complementary lever. With industry and business efforts ongoing, the market is ready for a practical, trusted tool built to catalyse regulatory and voluntary measures.

Eligible: 100% fossil-free, bio-based materials, both polymer-based (PLA, PHA, cellulose acetate, etc) and non-polymer-based (mycelium, bagasse, hemp-fiber composites, etc). Edible materials with consumption as a recovery pathway also qualify.Not eligible: any material containing fossil-based polymers, resins, linings or coatings (even partially). Glass and metals are also excluded as they are not bio-based.

The AMC incentivizes the uptake of alternative materials through an ecosystem that connects buyers (brands, businesses, and financial institutions) looking to fund material transition within or beyond their supply chains, with sellers (producers, transformers, and market facilitators of alternative materials) that receive value through the AMCs.Philanthropic organisations can also purchase AMCs to support projects with verified impact.PCX Solutions manages the standard and issues AMCs after third-party verification.

All projects are validated and all AMCs verified by an independent third-party Validation and Verification Body (VVB). There are integrity reviews throughout the five-year registration cycle.All issued AMCs are uniquely serialised, published and subsequently retired in a public registry, so double-counting is structurally prevented.

The value of an AMC is derived from two cost-driven components: Material Premium and Downstream Recovery.The data-driven valuation methodology establishes a verified cost baseline for the alternative materials transition, ensuring financial transparency and role-based accountability. It standardizes a physical environmental attribute into an auditable market instrument laying the groundwork for a financial asset class.