What is the Woodland Carbon Code?

Excessive emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) are causing damaging climate change.

Planting woodland to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, known as woodland carbon capture, is a cost-effective way of compensating for emissions while also providing many other social and environmental benefits.

People who want to invest in carbon capture projects need to feel confident that the woodlands will be well managed and really will capture the CO2 claimed. Certification against the Woodland Carbon Code meets this need by providing this evidence.

It also creates real and verifiable carbon ‘rights’ which can be sold to recoup the costs of creating the woodland and generate an income.

What are the benefits?

Selling the rights to the carbon captured by Woodland Carbon Code- certified woodlands can provide new income for landowners, potentially supplementing other income streams from timber, woodfuel and sporting activities.

A new native woodland can capture 300-400 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per hectare (tCO2e/ha) by year 50, and 400-500 tCO2e/ha by year 100.

Recent UK woodland carbon sales have realised between £3 and £10/tCO2e.

Currently, around 70 per cent of the carbon rights are sold in advance, enabling some landowners to quickly recoup their outlay. The remainder are sold later, as the woodland matures.