2. Register your project
Creating an account on the UK Land Carbon Registry
Register BEFORE work begins onsite
Register as a single project or a group?
Creating a new project or group of projects in your account
Creating an account on the UK Land Carbon Registry
1. If you don't yet have an account you must first join the registry. Note that you can enter both Woodland Carbon Code and Peatland Code projects to your account. See also How to create and manage your account on registry (pdf)
2. You need to provide the following information:
- Details of your company (if you have one) or yourself (if not), including trading name, registered name, address, email, tax number, website, a copy of the company's certificate of incorporation or other company registration data.
- Contact details for billing (name, phone, email)
- Contact details of the account holder (name, phone, email)
- Contact details of the account manager (name, phone, email and address, if different to main company address)
If you do not have a Company Registration Number, then either indicate your Charity Registration Number (if you are a charity) or type 'Not Applicable' in the box. Then choose 'Other Company Registration Document'.
3. You will then have to submit identification for your organisation and also for the account manager.
4. Once your details have been checked, S&P Global will send you a login. You will need to upload a copy of personal photo ID before your login is activated.
Register BEFORE work begins onsite
From 1 October 2022, you must register your project BEFORE work begins onsite.
Note that projects registered before this date had different requirements, see 1.1 Key Project Dates.
Should I register as a single project or a group of projects?
Projects can be validated individually or can come together as a group to be validated. Group validation is an alternative approach which allows a number of projects to become validated under a single statement. This enables financial costs to be shared alongside a common responsibility for ensuring that Woodland Carbon Code requirements are met at all sites. Group validation benefits smaller woodland owners as a result of the lower validation cost per individual project.
A standard project can be any size and can constitute several blocks of woodland with planting spanning up to five consecutive planting seasons. Blocks of woodland must be part of a contiguous land ownership unit or must be under the same ownership, manager and management plan. A planting area should not be subdivided for the purposes of Woodland Carbon Code validation.
Small projects have the same definition as a standard project, but with five hectares net planting area or less. There are optional streamlined carbon calculations and monitoring procedures which can be used for validation and verification, specifically:
- A simplified Woodland Carbon Code Carbon Calculation Spreadsheet for small projects
- Default assumptions made for some sections of the requirements (e.g. baseline and leakage).
- Basic monitoring from year 15 for projects which used the Woodland Carbon Code Carbon Calculation Spreadsheet for small projects.
The Woodland Carbon Code standard and guidance make clear where requirements differ for small projects.
A group can span no more than five consecutive planting seasons and be constituted of:
- up to 15 'standard' projects; and
- up to 50 hectares (net) area in 'small' projects.
There is no geographic restriction within a group.
If a group manager wishes to make a case to create and validate a group of more than 15 projects or spanning planting period greater than five years, they should contact the preferred validation/verification body and the Woodland Carbon Code Secretariat to ask for prior written approval. The addition of new projects after the initial group validation is only allowed in order to replace planted areas that have been withdrawn from the group or suffered losses due to fire, disease etc. If any such additions occur between five or 10-yearly verification events, then a revised Project Design Document needs to be prepared and the group as a whole re-validated.
Ideally, groups will be formed prior to validation, but it is also possible to form a group for the purposes of verification. If a group is formed for verification, the project start dates within the group should be within two years of each other (this also means their verifications will be due within two years of each other). Once projects are grouped, the grouping should remain the same for each subsequent verification.
A group requires a Group Manager and a Group Agreement. See Section 2.1
Creating a new project or group of projects in your UK Land Carbon Registry account
1. Go to S&P Global's Environmental Registry and choose 'Login' (top right). On the first use you need to find 'Environmental Registry' in the list of services provided. See also How to register a project or group on registry (pdf)
2. Once logged in, go to the 'My projects and issuances' tab and click on 'New Project' (for a single project) or 'New Master Project' (for a group). For a group you need to create 'New Subprojects' within the Master project.
3. For your 'New Project' or each 'New Subproject' in a group you need to input the following information:
- Project name and description
- Project implementation date (=date work begins onsite), start date (=end of planting) and end date (up to 100 years after start date)
- Management regime
- Validator
- Location (Grid Reference, nearest town, county, country)
- Net area (and whether conifer, mixed or broadleaved)
- Predicted carbon sequestration over project lifetime (claimable by project, buffer and total).
4. If you are creating a 'group', create a dummy 'New Subproject' called '<Group Name> Documents' in which to place your group documents. You simply need to enter zeros or 'not applicable' for the other fields.
5. You will need to upload your draft carbon calculations and a map. See template documents. If your project is established by natural regeneration, you need an extra map showing any seed sources, the gross, net and 'upfront claimable' areas (See Carbon Calculation Guidance for more information).
6. Once you have input this information, click on the button at the bottom of the project screen to submit your project as 'Under Development'. Your project details, carbon calculation and map will be available on the Public View of the UK Land Carbon Registry.
Other help and advice
There are a number of places you can get help and advice in the creation of your design plan. The main ones are listed below.
Woodland Grants
Forestry Commission England, Scottish Forestry, Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Forest Service give advice on applying for a woodland grant, creating your management plan, carrying out consultations with stakeholders and carrying out Environmental Impact Assessments. In some cases you can claim a grant to pay someone to help you through this process:
- Forestry Grants in England
- Forestry Grants in Scotland
- Glastir Woodland Creation Grants in Wales
- Woodland Grants in Northern Ireland
While it is fine for projects wishing to be certified to the Code to also have a woodland creation or management grant, certain conditions need to be met. See the Guidance on Additionality for more information.
Sustainable forest management - UK Forestry Standard and other guidance
The UK Forestry Standard(including the elements of biodiversity, climate change, historic environment, landscape, people, soil and water) sets out the requirements for the sustainable management of all forests and woodlands in the UK.
Further guidance on creating and managing woodland is available in Forest Research publications such as the UK Forestry Standard and supporting guidelines, practice guides, technical guides and Forest Research publications.
What happens next?
You will receive confirmation from S&P Global that your project has been approved and is now shown as 'under development' in the registry.
Next step: Design your project and get it validated.
