6. Sell your carbon units

Once your project is validated and your Pending Issuance Units are listed in the registry, you have a product to sell.  

Selling your units as Pending Issuance Units allows you to quickly recoup money spent on establishing your woodland (although you should also plan for the cost of managing and verifying your project in future.) 

It’s important to be aware that Pending Issuance Units are not guaranteed so there are risks with selling them. Read our sales agreement templates and guidance for more information. 

Your Pending Issuance Units will have a vintage timestamp which refers to the time it will take for them to be converted to Woodland Carbon Units. The vintage informs your buyer when they can expect units to convert.  

You can choose to sell all the Pending Issuance Units from your project to one buyer or sell smaller amounts to different buyers.

Important note:

Pending Issuance Units can’t be used to compensate for your buyer’s emissions. They help companies to plan for compensating future UK-based emissions.    

As a responsible seller, it’s vital you make this clear to anyone buying your units. By working together, we can help to maintain the integrity of UK voluntary carbon market.

See the claims that companies can make.

Once a particular vintage is verified, your Pending Issuance Units will be converted to Woodland Carbon Units.

Selling your units as Woodland Carbon Units means the buyer will be able to use them straight away to compensate for their unavoidable emissions. They may be willing to pay more as a result. The income could help with the costs of managing and verifying your woodland.

When Woodland Carbon Units are sold, they are guaranteed and protected by the Woodland Carbon Code buffer. This means there is less risk in selling at this stage. See our sales agreement templates and guidance for more information. 

If your buyer has their own registry account, you can transfer units to their account in a similar way to transferring money through internet banking.  

The process is detailed in the guide: how to transfer units to a buyer on registry (pdf). 

Their carbon units will be visible on the holdings page of the registry.

If your buyer doesn’t have a registry account, you can assign Pending Issuance Units or retire Woodland Carbon Units tagged with their name.

Assign Pending Issuance Units

You can assign units on behalf of a buyer following the process linked on the left of this guide: how to assign Pending Issuance Units to a buyer on the registry (pdf). 

Once you have assigned Pending Issuance Units to a buyer, they will be able to see the units on the assigned credits page of the registry with their name against them.  

Assigned units cannot be used by the buyer until they are verified. When the units are verified, they will be retired automatically.

Retire Woodland Carbon Units 

You can retire units on behalf of a buyer following the process linked on the left of this guide: how to retire Woodland Carbon Units on behalf of a buyer on the registry (pdf). 

Your buyer will be able to see their units on the retired credits page of the registry with their name against them. They can refer to this page when they declare their use in an annual greenhouse gases emissions report. The units are then taken out of your account and circulation.