2. Project governance

The landowner (or where land is tenanted, both the landowner and the tenant) shall commit to:

• Conform to this standard
• Permanent land-use change
• Manage the land as per the management plan for the establishment period and as per the longer-term management intentions for the project duration and beyond (2.3)
• Comply with the law (1.4) and conform with the UK Forestry Standard (1.5)
• Restock where projects involve harvesting (2.5)
• Replant or undertake alternative planting should woodland area be lost due to wind, fire, pests, disease or development (2.3)
• Inform future landowner(s) and, where land is tenanted, future tenant(s), of the commitment to the Woodland Carbon Code and any carbon contracts (2.3)
• Monitor and maintain verification for the project duration as per Woodland Carbon Code guidance (unless the third party project developer agrees to take this on - 2.5)
• If there is a loss of woodland carbon, notify the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat immediately and submit a loss report within six months of discovery (2.3)
• Ensure the project, any Pending Issuance Units listings, sales to carbon buyers and retirement for use of verified Woodland Carbon Units are accurately represented and up to date in the UK Land Carbon Registry (either in their own account or via the project/group manager's account - 2.6)
• Make true and accurate carbon statements about the project which conform with guidance (2.7)
• Abide by the Woodland Carbon Code logo rules of use

Commitment statements shall include the project name and be signed and dated by the landowner.

Where land is owned in trust, or by a company, charity or partnership, then either the landowner themselves or the legal signatory or signatories shall sign the landowner commitment statement. Where land is jointly owned, then all joint owners shall sign unless one landowner has authority to sign on behalf of joint owners. Where the signee is not the sole owner, they shall confirm their authority to sign.

The project developer or group manager shall commit to:

• Conform to this standard.
• Comply with the law (1.4) and conform with the UK Forestry Standard (1.5).
• Monitor and maintain verification for the project duration as per Woodland Carbon Code guidance (unless the landowner has agreed to take this on – 2.5).
• Ensure the project, any PIU listings, sales to carbon buyers, retirement for use of verified Woodland Carbon Units is accurately represented and up to date in the UK Land Carbon Registry (2.6).
• Only sell carbon units which are validated and verified to a standard which is endorsed in the UK Environmental Reporting Guidelines (2.6).
• Make true and accurate carbon statements about the project which comply with guidance (2.7).
• Make carbon buyers aware of the Woodland Carbon Code guidance on carbon claims and ensure this is included in contracts with buyers (2.7).
• Abide by the Woodland Carbon Code logo rules of use and make carbon buyers and landowners aware of the Woodland Carbon Code logo rules of use.

Groups shall have a nominated Group Manager and a formal management structure between members. Groups shall have a Group Agreement which sets out:

• The name of the group, its size and geographic scope and any other limitations on membership.
• The name and contact details of the Group Manager and the arrangements for replacing the Group Manager should this be necessary
• The name and contact details of the constituent landowners (and land managers if there are any).
• Details of the projects covered by the agreement (unique IDs, project names, locations and areas).
• Each project's liability for the group’s carbon rights and commitments (including consideration of whether the carbon is sold collectively or individually).
• The group's management structure and any other group rules.
• If not specified separately, the commitments of each landowner and the group manager as outlined above.
• Signatures of the group manager, all the landowners, and land managers if there are any.
• The roles and responsibilities of the Group Manager and the group members as set out in guidance below.

Landowner / project developer commitments

This section brings together in one place all the commitments required of the landowner and/or project developer. Some of these commitments are referred to in more detail in other sections of the code, but are shown together here for clarity.

There may be more than one party involved in the management of a Woodland Carbon Code project. A landowner could develop their own project or contract a third party. A group manager is effectively a project developer for several projects working together for validation/verification. Whichever setup applies, there are a number of commitments that each party involved in Woodland Carbon Code projects should make.

The Project Developer or Group Manager needs to be legally constituted such that they can enter a service contract with the validation/verification body.

The group agreement

Once validated as a group, it is anticipated that groups will continue to work together for the duration of their projects/the Group Agreement.

The group manager should:

• Maintain a register of members of the group and the individual planting projects covered by the group scheme.
• Ensure the requirements of the contract between the group manager and the constituent group members are adhered to.
• Establish and implement a system of document control and record keeping, holding copies of documents as required by the Woodland Carbon Code.
• Act as the main point of contact with the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat, the validation/verification body and the UK Land Carbon Registry.
• Register the projects in the group on the UK Land Carbon Registry and coordinate the project-group design.
• Lead on project-group validation and ongoing verification including addressing corrective actions for non-conformities.
• Inform group members of relevant developments.
• Deal with complaints relevant to Woodland Carbon Code validation/verification.
• Revise the Group Agreement (as necessary) with any changes to the group membership or terms.
• Commit to the other terms for project developers as detailed above.

Group members should:

• Abide by the Group Agreement.
• Inform successor landowner(s) of their commitment to the group.
• Allow the group manager to apply for Woodland Carbon Code validation/verification on their behalf.
• Supply information required by the group manager and agree to internal audit by the group manager.
• Take any corrective action required by the group manager to address non-conformities.
• Commit to other terms for landowners as detailed above.

Group Agreements should be signed and dated by all parties.

• There shall be a management planning documentation, initially for the establishment period, containing:
  • An outline of the necessary inputs and resources, including a full financial analysis
  • A summary of operational techniques
  • A chronological plan of key project operations
  • Consideration of species selection for future climate
  • A map. The map shall be clear and align with the Woodland Carbon Code mapping rules and include:
    • A base map
    • Scale
    • Name of project
    • Outer boundary
    • Open ground
    • Existing woodland and any other areas not accounted for
    • Fencing and other infrastructure
    • Grid reference
    • Legend
    • Sub-compartments
    • Additional requirements for natural regeneration
• The management plan shall be updated on a regular basis. There shall be an outline of the longer-term management intentions, for the project duration and beyond.
• The land manager shall have the management capacity necessary to carry out the planned project activities for the duration of the project.

Management planning documentation

If the project is receiving a woodland grant (or, as it matures, has a felling licence), any existing woodland management planning documentation may provide sufficient evidence. There should be a process for updating the management plan. The key aims and objectives of your project as well as the type of woodland to be created should be summarised in your project design document (and updated in your project progress report if changed). 

The UK Forestry Standard (including the sustainable forest management elements of climate change, soil, water, biodiversity, landscape, historic environment and people) sets out sustainable forest management standards for the UK and requirements for management planning.

• My Forest provides free woodland mapping and management planning software
• The Land App also provides free mapping services

In Scotland, the Scottish Land Commission provides further guidance on land management standards in their Good Stewardship of Land Protocol.

Longer-term management intentions

Project developers need to set out the intended management regime of the woodland for the project duration and beyond (e.g. regular thinning, clearfell with a given rotation length, continuous cover forestry, or minimum intervention). This should be consistent with the management regime assumed in the Woodland Carbon Code Carbon Calculation Spreadsheet.

Mapping rules

Projects should provide a clear and easily understandable map of their woodland creation project as a PDF.

The map forms an important part of the Woodland Carbon Code documentation. It will be uploaded to the UK Land Carbon Registry and will be a publicly available document enabling potential carbon buyers as well as validating/verifying bodies to locate your project and identify the different elements within it.

If you have already produced a map, e.g. for a grant application, then provided it accurately represents the planting carried out and meets these mapping rules, it can also be used for the Woodland Carbon Code.

• Example maps

Maps should include:

Base map

Ideally this should be an Ordnance Survey map, but other map formats are acceptable, provided they accurately show features such as roads, boundaries, woodlands, watercourses etc. Depending on the size of your project, you can use any appropriate scale of base map.

Scale

The map should show the scale of the original base map.

Title - Name of project

The map title should be the same name that you are using in the UK Land Carbon Registry and in your other project documents (project design document or project progress report).

Outer boundary

The outer boundary of your project should be clearly marked, ideally in red, and should include any land directly related to the project (for example, please ensure you include the entirety of your woodland creation grant in the Woodland Carbon Code project boundary).

Open ground

Any open ground within the outer boundary should be clearly mapped if above 0.25 hectares. This should include open ground which is part of a grant contract as well as any other land which is not planted.

Existing woodland and any other areas not accounted for

Any existing woodland or young planting which are not part of the carbon project but are within the boundary should be clearly marked.

Fencing and other infrastructure

Where new fencing, fence upgrades, vehicle and pedestrian gates and roads/tracks will be added, please show these clearly on the map.

Please ensure this is clear where it is coincident with project or section/sub-compartment boundaries. Provide a second map if it’s not possible to show everything on one page.

Grid reference

Your map should be labelled with a six figure British National Grid Reference (This also applies to projects in Northern Ireland). The location of the Grid Reference should be clearly marked on your map, within the boundary of your Woodland Carbon Code project. This should be the same Grid Reference you use in other documentation (i.e. project design document, UK Land Carbon Registry). If your project has several separate components/stands, use the Grid Reference of the most central or the main/largest component as the Project Grid Reference. 

Legend

All features (area, line or point) on the map should be clearly identified in the map legend.

Sections/sub-compartments

Any sections/sub-compartments within the woodland can be clearly marked and labelled (for example shaded with different colours). The woodland might be subdivided into sections based on planting mix, spacing, establishment year or site type. For example, broadleaved and coniferous planted woodland should be separated and clearly labelled. If intimate mixtures that contain both conifers and broadleaves are present, please make this clear. 

If each section is dealt with separately in your Woodland Carbon Code Carbon Calculation Spreadsheet, then use the same names for sections/sub-compartments on the map and in your carbon calculation. The sections/sub-compartments may be helpful later at the monitoring and verification stage when thinking about stratifying your site. 

Maps over multiple pages

If your map has several pages, please ensure:

• The project name appears on each page
• There is at least one component/ stand with marked Grid Reference on each page to enable location of the components on that page
• All pages are combined into one PDF document

Additional requirements for natural regeneration

Provide map(s) showing

• any seed sources/existing mature trees
• upfront claimable regeneration < 50m from seed sources
• upfront claimable regeneration > 50m from seed sources and
• future claimable natural regeneration areas
• open ground/non-eligible areas
• Existing woodland greater than 0.25 hectares should be mapped as a polygon. Smaller clumps or individual seed trees should be marked with a symbol.

If you are claiming Pending Issuance Units upfront for any areas more than 50m from existing seed sources, then you should also provide a map of the seedling survey showing the presence of any existing seedlings on the site.

Natural regeneration example maps and guidance notes

Further guidance and advice 

• UK Forestry Standard
• Free woodland management or mapping tools:  
  • My Forest
  • The Land App

The landowner shall demonstrate a commitment to permanence by:

• Identifying risk factors and developing appropriate mitigation strategies as set out in the project's risk assessment
• Contributing to the Woodland Carbon Code buffer
• Ensuring re-stocking where projects involve harvesting
• Replanting or undertaking alternative planting should woodland area be lost due to wind, fire, pests, diseases or development.
• Managing as per the longer-term management intentions for the project duration and beyond
• Inform future landowners of the commitment to the Woodland Carbon Code and any carbon contracts.

Should a project experience a loss of carbon, the landowner shall:

• Notify the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat immediately
• Submit a loss report to the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat within six months of discovery of the loss
• Quantify the magnitude of the loss at the subsequent verification/ in the next project progress report

If a landowner/manager wishes to change the management regime of their woodland, then the project developer shall notify the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat immediately and, provided the alternative management regime will maintain the carbon stock already sold, documentation shall be updated via the project progress report at the next verification.

What is 'permanence'?

Permanence describes the issue of ensuring removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is permanent and not reversed at a future point in time. Woodland projects carry a risk of reversibility and, as such, safeguards must be in place to minimise that risk as well as to guarantee replacement or compensatory woodland planting should a reversal occur.

Woodlands sequester carbon from the atmosphere, but can also lose carbon either through natural causes (pest and disease attacks, extreme weather events or fire) or through management (felling and not replacing the trees). Project managers need to make every effort to ensure that any claimed carbon store remains in the woodland for the duration of the project and beyond.

The measures set out below ensure that the risk of loss is minimised and that if there are any unavoidable losses, there is a process for these to be dealt with. Where there is an avoidable loss (e.g. where the management regime set out in the project design document is not followed by the landowner/manager), this can be dealt with by legal and contractual means.

Managing woodland to minimise losses

Projects validated/verified to the Woodland Carbon Code can manage their woodland in a variety of ways, including periodic clearfelling. The project design document should clearly state the management intentions for the project over the project duration and beyond consistent with the Woodland Carbon Code Carbon Calculation Spreadsheet. These management intentions should be realistic for the type of woodland as well as the conditions at the site.

Whatever the management regime, the maximum sequestration that can be claimed is the long-term average carbon stock of the woodland type and management on the site. Clearfelling should be carried out in line with plans set out in the project design document. Restocking should be carried out in line with any felling licence conditions.

Minimising risks to minimise losses

A risk assessment should be included in the project design document at validation in order to insure against unforeseen losses of woodland carbon. Any updates to risk should be given in the project progress report at verification. For each project, the potential risks should be identified and strategies developed to mitigate these risks. As a minimum, the following areas should be considered:

• Legal/ social
• Natural disturbance: fire
• Natural disturbance: wind
• Natural disturbance: drought/ flood
• Natural disturbance: pest and disease
• Species suitability in current and future climate

Buffer

Purpose

The Woodland Carbon Code buffer safeguards the investment made by carbon buyers and maintains and protects the integrity of verified Woodland Carbon Units. Thus Woodland Carbon Units issued for a project are permanent and would never have to be cancelled or ‘paid back’ should that project subsequently fail. We will ensure there are always sufficient units in the pooled buffer to cover any unanticipated losses from individual project failures.

The buffer is a single account held in the UK Land Carbon Registry and managed by Scottish Forestry. It contains the contributions from all verified projects.

For avoidance of doubt, the following would not be covered and losses would be borne by the project:

• Pending Issuance Units
• Sequestered carbon which is not yet verified

Contributing to the buffer

From Version 2.0 of the Woodland Carbon Code, projects each contribute 20% of the project’s net carbon sequestration to the buffer. With previous versions of the standard, projects contributed a variable amount (15% to 40%) based upon project risk.

At validation, 20% of Pending Issuance Units are transferred into the Woodland Carbon Code buffer account managed by Scottish Forestry. This indicates the potential size of the buffer over time. It will not be possible to make claims from the Pending Issuance Units in the buffer account.

On verification of each vintage/ monitoring period, Pending Issuance Units will be converted to Woodland Carbon Units. 20% of verified Woodland Carbon Units from that vintage will be allocated to the buffer account managed by Scottish Forestry. Verified Woodland Carbon Units in the buffer can be drawn on in case of any losses of verified Woodland Carbon Units from a project. Buffer units are not tradable.

Losses

A ‘loss’ of carbon is defined as when the woodland loses some of its trees and standing volume, and therefore carbon due to avoidable or unavoidable circumstances.

Should a loss occur, the project should immediately inform the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat.

The project must submit a loss event report within six months of discovery of the loss. The relevant number of buffer units to cover the loss will be put on hold.

The project will then conduct their next regular verification as per the verification schedule.

Reversals

A reversal is defined as when the net greenhouse gas benefit of the project, taking into account the baseline, leakage and project carbon sequestration, is negative in a given monitoring period/vintage. The size of the reversal is the net carbon sequestration at the current verification minus the net carbon sequestration at the previous verification.

Reversal: If at the next regular verification there has been a reversal since the previous verification:

1. If desired, any unsold Woodland Carbon Units in the project-developer’s account which are not part of the amount lost, can be cancelled to cover the reversal.
2. Should this be insufficient to cover the loss then the relevant number of buffer units already put on hold will be cancelled to cover the remaining proportion of the shortfall. If this number is insufficient, additional buffer units will be cancelled. If too many were put on hold, the ‘surplus’ will be released back into the buffer.
3. The project design document shall be reviewed with a view to taking corrective actions to make good the losses in a reasonable timeframe of, perhaps, 10 to 20 years.

No Reversal/Increase:  If at the next regular verification there has been a net increase in carbon sequestration since the previous verification, then there is no reversal and any Woodland Carbon Code Buffer units put on hold at the time of the loss event report will be released back to the buffer.

See also the Registry Rules of Use.

Replenishing the buffer

An unavoidable reversal relates to a loss due to natural disaster (e.g. severe storms, flooding, drought, fire, pest and disease attacks) or man-made events over which the project has no control (e.g. terrorism, war).

If a reversal has occurred, then:

• If the reversal was avoidable (e.g. poor management or early/over-harvesting of timber) the project shall reimburse the buffer for all credits cancelled to compensate for the loss before further Woodland Carbon Units are issued to the project.
• If the reversal was unavoidable, the project is only required to repay the buffer for carbon units cancelled in excess of the contribution their project had previously made (e.g. if a project had contributed 50 units but 60 were cancelled to cover their loss, the project would only have to repay 10 units). Further Woodland Carbon Units can then be issued.

The project would then continue to contribute a proportion of verified carbon units into the buffer at each subsequent verification.

End of project duration

At the end of a project’s duration, all remaining buffer units which were contributed by that project will be cancelled and there is no further requirement to monitor the project.

Legal instruments to ensure permanence

The landowner of a Woodland Carbon Code project has to commit to a permanent land use change to woodland and to maintain the woodland as a woodland carbon sink.  Any unavoidable losses due to natural disturbances such as fire, pest, disease or wind damage will be eligible to make a claim from the 'buffer' of unclaimed carbon.  Avoidable losses (e.g. the landowner choosing to fell and not replace the trees) must be dealt with by legal or contractual means.

Contractual obligation Where a contract is in place with a buyer covering the landowner's obligations to provide carbon sequestration through woodlands, claims may be made by the buyer in the event of a breach of contract.   

In addition to any contractual obligations set up under the Woodland Carbon Code, projects are subject to existing legislation that would guard against deforestation or the removal of woodland. 

Across the UK, the following legislation requires an Environmental Impact Assessment for deforestation above 0.5ha in sensitive areas, 1.0ha outside sensitive areas:

• Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) (England and Wales) Regulations (1999)
• Forestry (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017
• Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006.
• EIA (Deforestation) - England
• EIA (Deforestation) - Scotland
• EIA (Deforestation) - Wales
• EIA (Deforestation)  - Northern Ireland

Across the UK, the following legislation prevents the felling of trees without the permission of the Forestry Commission, Scottish Forestry, Natural Resources Wales or Northern Ireland Forest Service, through a Felling Licence. 

• The Forestry Act (1967)
• Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018
• The Forestry Act (Northern Ireland) 2010
• Felling Licences - England
• Felling Permissions - Scotland
• Felling Licences - Wales
• Felling Licences - Northern Ireland

Further guidance and advice

• Loss event report - version 2.1
• 2.6 Registry rules of use

• We are developing standard terms to be included in contracts sellers and buyers.
• We will provide further examples on avoidable and unavoidable reversals and replenishing the buffer.

Projects shall provide an opportunity for, and take account of, inputs from stakeholders and feedback from local communities during both the project design phase and over the lifespan of the project. 

In addition to a number of statutory consultees, communities can reasonably expect to be engaged in decisions about the use and management of land where the outcome is likely to have an impact on the community. This engagement should be a genuine exercise in collaboration and community views should be considered to help achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. The process should be proportionate to the resources available to all parties and the impact that the decision may have on the community.

The toolbox for public engagement in forest and woodland planning can assist forest and woodland managers when planning for public involvement and when considering which tools would be most appropriate when including local communities and other stakeholders in forest or woodland planning and management. 

In Scotland, the Scottish Land Commission Protocol on Community Engagement in Decisions Relating to Land and the Route Map for Community Engagement provides further guidance. The Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement helps guide the process of land reform in Scotland.

If a project has carried out an Environmental Impact Assessment or applied for a woodland creation grant, evidence of the consultation required as part of these processes is sufficient in most cases. Projects which apply for grant are also placed on a public register for four weeks and comments received will be considered as part of the grant approval process.

• England: Consultation register for grant schemes, felling licences and Environmental Impact Assessment applications
• Scotland: Public register of Forestry Grant Scheme woodland creation applications
• Wales: Public Register of Environmental Impact Assessment Decisions
• Northern Ireland: Public Register of Environmental Impact Assessments

Further guidance and advice

Toolbox for public engagement in forest and woodland planning

Projects should be reviewed at year five and then at least every 10 years after the project start date (for single projects) or the group start date (for groups).

Year 5

• At year 5, the ‘Year 5 Monitoring Protocol’ shall be followed for all projects, whether ‘standard’ or ‘small’ projects.
• Monitoring shall start 12 months prior to the end of the vintage/verification due date.
• Single projects or groups shall submit a Project Progress Report alongside the relevant Monitoring Report.

After year 5

After year 5, there are three options for monitoring and either verification or self-assessment. At the end of each vintage, projects shall complete one of the following:

Undertake full monitoring and third party verification (any project).

This leads to the conversion of Pending Issuance Units to Woodland Carbon Units. Single projects or groups shall submit a Project Progress Report alongside the relevant Monitoring Report for third party Verification. Upon verification, the single project or group will be marked Verified and Pending Issuance Units realised will be converted to verified Woodland Carbon Units.

Undertake basic monitoring and third party verification (small projects only).

This leads to the conversion of Pending Issuance Units to verified Woodland Carbon Units. Single projects or groups shall submit a Project Progress Report alongside the relevant Basic Monitoring Report for third party Verification. Upon verification, their single project or group will be marked Verified and Pending Issuance Units will be converted to verified Woodland Carbon Units. All Pending Issuance Units will be converted provided the extent and health of the project is demonstrated.

Undertake basic monitoring without third party verification (standard or small projects).

In this case units will not be converted – they will remain as ‘Pending Issuance Units’. Single projects or groups shall submit their project as Self-Assessed with the relevant Project Progress Report alongside the relevant Basic Monitoring Report to the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat. Once checked, the project will be marked Self Assessed and no units will be converted.

Extensions, corrective actions and remedial plans

• If there are extenuating circumstances for a delay, the project shall seek the approval of the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat. If approval is granted, a verification extension approval shall be uploaded to the UK Land Carbon Registry.
• Corrective actions shall be undertaken if establishment and/or tree growth and carbon sequestration rates do not meet predicted and validated amounts.
• Where corrective actions are not quickly resolved, then the project shall be verified ‘subject to corrective actions being completed’, upon provision of a Remedial Plan. If corrective actions are not resolved and there is no Remedial Plan, then your project shall either be verified with Red status or not verified at all, depending on the severity of concern about the project's success.

Monitoring plan

Each project needs to have a monitoring plan in place before validation. Monitoring will enable the project to quantify and document the progress of carbon sequestration as well as ensure that the project is being managed to the UK Forestry Standard. The monitoring plan shall be set out in the project design document.

When to monitor

Projects developers need to undertake the field survey six to 12 months (but no more than 12 months, except in exceptional circumstances) prior to each verification due-date to:

• demonstrate successful woodland establishment at year five, and
• assess actual tree growth and carbon sequestration rates from year 15 onwards. 

Starting the monitoring six to 12 months before the due date allows sufficient time for verification to be completed before the verification due-date.

Monitoring at year-5

The first verification due-date is five years after the start date (for those projects validated earlier than July 2013, timing of the first verification may differ).

The purpose of monitoring at year five is to ensure that the site has been suitably stocked and established (as set out in the project design document) and that the trees/ site are in good health with the potential to grow and sequester carbon as predicted. All projects should use the Woodland Carbon Code survey protocol V2.1.1 April 2024 (.pdf) which sets out requirements of the year five survey. It assesses:

• Tree stocking density through the number of seedlings and saplings of each species
• Actual species mix
• Tree health, tree damage, weed growth and tree protection (shelters/fencing)

The Woodland Carbon Code year 5 monitoring report V2.1.1 April 2024 provides template sheets for data collection as well as a summary sheet which calculates stocking density from the results of the field survey. You will submit a project progress report and the year 5 monitoring report, with site-based photos to your chosen verifier. On verification, the predicted number of Pending Issuance Units will be converted to Woodland Carbon Units with no under or over delivery.

At year five, projects will be verified to a ‘limited’ level of assurance.

Monitoring from year 15 onwards

Verification due-dates for subsequent assessments will be 15 years after the project start date and then at least 10-yearly up to the project end date. There are three options for monitoring:

Full monitoring and 3rd party verification

The purpose of monitoring from year 15 onwards is to assess the carbon stock of the site and to confirm that the trees/site are in good health with the potential to grow and sequester carbon as predicted. This involves carrying out a plot-based mensuration survey for year 15 onwards following the Woodland Carbon Code survey protocol V2.1.1 April 2024. It assesses:

• Carbon stock
• Tree health

The Woodland Carbon Code year 15+ monitoring report pilot V2.1 March 2021 provides template sheets for data collection as well as summary sheets to calculate the carbon stock of the woodland. You will submit a project progress report V2.2.1 April 2024 and Woodland Carbon Code year 15+ monitoring report with site-based photos to your chosen verifier. On verification, your units realised will be converted from Pending Issuance Units to Woodland Carbon Units.

• If your survey results confirm more carbon is stored onsite than predicted, then your verification status will be ‘green’ and you will be issued more Woodland Carbon Units, in line with your survey results.
• If your survey results confirm less carbon is stored onsite than predicted, then your verification status will be ‘red’ and any undelivered Pending Issuance Units will be cancelled.
• If the verifiers' assessment is that there is real concern for the ability of your project to sequester the predicted amount in future vintages, you will be required to re-assess your carbon prediction and Pending Issuance Units issued for future vintages will be cancelled.

Projects which undertake full monitoring will be verified to a ‘reasonable’ level of assurance.

Basic monitoring and 3rd party verification (for projects that used the Small Project Calculator)

For projects that used the small project calculator, basic monitoring can be carried out to assess the carbon stock of the site and to confirm that the trees/ site are in good health. You will submit a project progress report V2.2.1 April 2024 and basic monitoring report for verification. On verification, it will be assumed that the predicted amount of carbon dioxide has been sequestered and your units will be converted from Pending Issuance Units to Woodland Carbon Units with no under or over delivery.

You can only undertake basic monitoring and third party verification if:

• Your project is at least 15 years old.
• You used the ‘small woods calculator’ at validation.
• It’s not the last monitoring period of your project. At the last monitoring period you will be required to do full monitoring and third party verification.
• There have been no major changes to the project since the last verification (area, management, health etc.).

The verifier can request other sources of information if any source supplied is not clear. If the verifier still has any concerns about the growth or health of the project, they can request that you conduct Full Monitoring prior to verification of your small project.

Small projects which undertake basic monitoring will be verified to a ‘limited’ level of assurance.

Basic monitoring and self-assessment

Self-assessment involves carrying out basic monitoring and uploading your basic monitoring report and project progress report to the registry without third party verification. There will be a basic check of the evidence submitted by the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat and your project will have the status ‘self-assessed’. If you self-assess, your carbon units will remain as Pending Issuance Units and won’t be converted to Woodland Carbon Units, so they still can’t be used by buyers to report against their emissions.

You can only undertake self-assessment from year 15 onwards if:

• Your latest verification received a ‘green’ status (if a group, all projects have to be ‘green’ status) and you don’t have any concerns about the growth and health of your project.
• Your latest assessment was a verification, not a self-assessment.
• It’s not the last monitoring period of your project. At the last monitoring period you will be required to do full monitoring and third party verification.
• There have been no major changes to the project (area, management, health etc.)

Please contact the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat if you intend to self-assess and we will check you meet the criteria.

When reviewing a ‘self-assessed’ project, the Secretariat can request other sources of information if any source supplied is not clear. If the Secretariat are content with the information provided, they will approve the project as ‘self-assessed’. If the Secretariat still have any concerns about the growth and health of a project that is submitted as ‘self-assessed’, the Secretariat can require that full monitoring and third party verification is undertaken.

Self-assessed projects are not verified. No Pending Issuance Units will be converted to Woodland Carbon Units.

Basic monitoring requirements

• Complete the project progress report which confirms the project still meets the standard and is still on track.
• Project developer prepares a basic monitoring report containing imagery of the site as follows, to confirm the health, growth and extent of the woodland. Project developers should check proposed aerial imagery with the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat (for self-assessment) or verifier (for verification):
  • Representative geotagged site-based photos (minimum three to four, more if the project consists of lots of separate compartments) AND
  • One form of aerial image, with the boundary of the project and planted area overlaid, to confirm stocking over whole site. This could be:
    • Plane-based aerial photos (these are available map browsers such as):
      • England’s Map Browser and Land Information Search
      • Scotland’s Land Information Search in Scotland’s Environment Web
      • Natural Resources Wales Interactive Mapper
      • My Forest (You can upload an existing shapefile and overlay it on aerial photography)
      • The Land App (access Bing imagery or Mapbox imagery)
      • MAGIC
      • Scotland’s Environment Web
      • Google Maps or Bing Maps (although aerial photography can be older).
    • Satellite-based optical data (Copernicus/Sentinel now produces images every six days. This is currently available to Forestry Commission/Forest Research/Scottish Forestry internally. Also available from private sources).
    • Drone-based video/photos
    • Other image sources as they become available.
• An updated map (with planted/open/existing woodland and project boundary) if the net area apparent on aerial image is at odds with the original map. This should follow Woodland Carbon Code mapping guidance. If there is greater than a 5% disparity in apparent net area, then full monitoring should be undertaken.

Who can undertake the assessment?

The year five or year 15 survey can be carried out by a suitably experienced landowner, project developer or independent third party. The verifier may also offer to carry out the field survey on the project developer's behalf. The verification body will always visit the site at the year five verification, but will do so on a risk-based approach for subsequent verifications. Monitoring carried out by an independent third party could be less likely to require a verification body field visit, however project developers should contact their chosen verification body to check the suitability of an independent surveyor prior to carrying out the survey.

The science behind the assessment of carbon

The Woodland Carbon Code Survey Protocol is a subset of methods outlined in the Woodland Carbon Code Carbon Assessment Protocol (left). Methods of calculating the tree stem volume are detailed further in the Forest Mensuration Handbook. The methods of estimating the mass of carbon from the tree volume are given in The Carbon Content of Trees (pdf) and other Forestry Commission publications such as:

• Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: the UK contribution (pdf).
• Understanding the carbon and greenhouse gas balance of forests in Britain

Further guidance and advice 

• Carbon assessment protocol - version 2.0 March 2018 (pdf)
• Verification

• We will develop a soil carbon assessment protocol.
• We are investigating how technology such as instruments on drones, planes and satellites could help with verification. We will add to the protocol when such methods are acceptable and cost effective.

• Projects and carbon units shall only appear on one carbon registry - the UK Land Carbon Registry

   

• For group validation/ verification, the group and its constituent projects shall be entered on the registry as a 'master project' and 'subprojects' respectively

   

• All projects, project documentation, carbon units, assignments and retirements shall be visible in the 'public view' of the UK Land Carbon Registry

   

• Upon validation, Pending Issuance Units shall be listed for all carbon units in the project, except for a limited number of projects where predicting the carbon sequestration is more challenging. Verified Woodland Carbon Units shall be issued once the actual amount sequestered is known. This includes:
  • Natural regeneration projects which are very large-scale, or where there is little or no ‘baseline’ evidence of seedlings regenerating

  • Woodland creation projects which are planting a species where there is less information about sequestration rates and no ‘carbon model’ is mapped in the Woodland Carbon Code Carbon Calculator.

     

• Any Pending Issuance Units sold in advance of verification shall either be transferred to the relevant buyer's account or 'assigned' to that buyer

   

• At each verification, Pending Issuance Units for that vintage shall be cancelled and the verified number of Woodland Carbon units issued

   

• Prior to using Woodland Carbon Units in any reports, they shall be 'retired' from the UK Land Carbon Registry

   

• Projects shall not accept any tree donations or other sponsorship where this creates a double claim between the Woodland Carbon Code and the donation regarding the carbon benefit

   

• Project developers shall comply with the registry rules of use. 

The UK Land Carbon Registry is managed by S&P Global on behalf of the Woodland Carbon Code and the Peatland Code. 

• See UK Land Carbon Registry for details of how to join or view the registry.
• See the Registry rules of use 

• Landowners and project developers shall make carbon buyers aware of the Woodland Carbon Code guidance on carbon claims.

   

• Any carbon statement by the landowner, the project developer or the carbon buyer shall be true and accurate and conform with the recommended wording. Statements made prior to sequestration shall clearly state the timescale over which the carbon is to be sequestered.

   

• Carbon removals shall only be reported or used after carbon is sequestered and verified (i.e. Woodland Carbon Units) in accordance with guidance. This is sometimes called ex-post reporting.

It is vital to the reputation of the code that any claims made about carbon are true and accurate and that carbon from a given project is not used or accounted for more than once. As a general principle, carbon can only be used once the trees have grown, carbon is sequestered and verified. Companies using verified Woodland Carbon Units should demonstrate their use in an annual report (environmental, greenhouse gas or financial) as well as in other promotional claims. Landowners, project developers and carbon buyers should make every effort to ensure the appropriateness and accuracy of any claims.

The UK Land Carbon Registry, a carbon unit registry for the Woodland Carbon Code and Peatland Carbon Code, hosted by S&P Global. This contains units in two forms:

• Pending Issuance Units of a given ‘vintage’/time-period (essentially a promise to deliver carbon units in a given timeframe; not guaranteed) and
• Verified Woodland Carbon Units of a particular vintage/time-period (verified carbon sequestration which can be used or reported; guaranteed). 

All units are linked to the project they belong to and are publicly visible with their current status and owner. When units are retired from the registry for use, this will be publicly visible on a 'retirement' page. This will provide clarity and transparency of carbon owners and claims that are made. It is possible for project developers to 'assign' a Pending Issuance Unit to a buyer if the buyer doesn't wish to have their own account. Assignment is irreversible and assigned credits will be automatically retired once they are converted to verified Woodland Carbon Units upon verification.

Scottish Government's Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital provide further guidance for those thinking of buying carbon units or buying land to create carbon units.

Further guidance and advice 

Reporting your emissions 

• Environmental reporting guidelines - including streamlined energy and carbon reporting requirements PAS 2060:2014
• Specification for the demonstration of carbon neutrality

Other useful guidance

• Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative
• Green/environmental claims guidance