Advisory Board - Terms of Reference

The Woodland Carbon Code is the UK standard for woodland carbon projects. Scottish Forestry provides Woodland Carbon Code services under the Memorandum of Understanding between the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments. 

The Memorandum of Understanding is between The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for the UK Government and The Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy for the Scottish Government and The Minister for the Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs for the Welsh Government and the Forestry Commissioners for the Cross-Border provision of Forestry Functions and Research Delivery. 

The Advisory Board provides advice and expertise on the operation, promotion and development of the Woodland Carbon Code.

The Advisory Board advises on:

• Development and revision of the code and supporting tools and guidance
• Interpretation of the code and its application
• Validation, monitoring and verification processes
• Communication and promotion of the code
• Monitoring, research and evaluation
• Market development 

The Advisory Board advises the Executive Board.

The Executive Board reports to the Nature Markets Strategy Board and provides direction to the Woodland Carbon Code team.

The Disputes Panel advises the Executive Board.

Members come from a broad range of forest sector and carbon market stakeholders. 

Representative bodies such as the Institute of Chartered Foresters, Confor and the Country Land and Business Association are permanent members, but the Advisory Board member from that organisation rotates two-yearly. We will ask the representative bodies to select a suitable candidate.

Project developer, retail aggregator and investor positions are appointed for a two-year term. It is possible to re-apply for a further term at the end of the two-year period, limited to two consecutive ‘rounds’ as a member. The Woodland Carbon Code team will advertise vacancies to existing market participants or through wider stakeholder networks, with a description of the role and the particular skills or knowledge we are looking for. Applications will be reviewed by the Woodland Carbon Code team and recommendations made to the Executive Board.

Other posts on the advisory board are permanent. Other experts can be asked to attend as and when necessary.

Members are appointed by the Executive Board and membership will be reviewed regularly.

Current members are listed on our governance page. 

The Advisory Board meets around four times per year or more frequently as required, normally by Microsoft Teams.

The board is chaired by the Head of Economics and the Woodland Carbon Code, Scottish Forestry. The Woodland Carbon Code team provides secretariat support.

The Woodland Carbon Code team may seek the input of advisory board members for other work such as consultation responses.

Minutes of Advisory Board meetings are publicly available at www.woodlandcarboncode.org.uk/board-minutes 

Members of the Advisory Board will complete a Declaration of Interest form and this will be reviewed annually. Declarations will be reviewed by the Woodland Carbon Code team but will not be made public. The Woodland Carbon Code team will decide on the appropriate action.

Depending on the nature of any conflict, the board member could be removed from the board or be removed from meetings concerning the project, organisation or subject where there is a conflict of interest. 

The Woodland Carbon Code team produces an annual report on the code, its governance, the projects and activities over the year, financial information and a look ahead. This is available at www.woodlandcarboncode.org.uk/about