Driving climate action through the Woodland Carbon Code

Scotland's Climate Week is an annual event which raises awareness of the climate emergency and the urgent need for action. 

One of the most effective ways to tackle climate change is to create new woodland because trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow.

The Woodland Carbon Code is the UK’s quality assurance standard for woodland carbon projects. It enables landowners, organisations and businesses to take climate action by creating and supporting new woodlands across the UK.

• For landowners, crofters and farmers, it offers the opportunity to establish woodlands which generate valuable carbon units. 

   

• For businesses, it provides a way to compensate for unavoidable UK-based emissions by buying these high-integrity units.

The latest version of the code, launched on 1 August, is designed to be more accessible, practical and commercially viable for the land management sector. 

Key updates include revising rules to encourage more projects on crofted land and allowing projects up to 10 hectares to use a streamlined approach.

Backed by government, the forestry sector and carbon market experts, the Woodland Carbon Code ensures credibility and transparency.

Each project under the code generates independently verified carbon units, delivering permanent and additional contributions to greenhouse gas removals. This means that supporters can be confident their contribution will make a measurable and lasting difference.

Since its launch in 2011, the code has helped to create nearly 33,000 hectares of new woodland across Scotland. The projects across this area are predicted to remove more than 10.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over their lifetime.

As well as removing carbon, Woodland Carbon Code projects provide a host of other benefits for nature and society. New woodlands:

• Create habitats that restore biodiversity and support a wide range of species
• Protect soil and water resources
• Increase resilience to drought, flooding and extreme weather
• Provide improvements in health and wellbeing
• Support local jobs

Healthy, biodiverse woodlands are not only vital for tackling climate change. They also build stronger, more resilient environments and communities.

The Woodland Carbon Code team is working with partner organisations to explore how we can measure the biodiversity and water benefits our projects deliver. 

We are collaborating with the Peatland Code to investigate how the emerging biodiversity market might be delivered alongside or within our existing codes. 

We are also partnering with Forest Research to develop a methodology for a potential Woodland Water Code. This would recognise how woodlands improve water quality, reduce flood risk and cool streams and rivers. 

These initiatives will highlight more clearly the range of environmental benefits that woodland provide in addition to the vital process of removing carbon. 

Whether you’re a business looking to compensate for unavoidable emissions or a landowner interested in developing a woodland carbon project, the Woodland Carbon Code offers a trusted way to take meaningful climate action.

Every woodland planted under the code is a step towards a greener, more resilient Scotland.

Find out more at www.woodlandcarboncode.org.uk