When a project is verified at the end of a period/vintage, the number of Pending Issuance Units verified in the period / vintage will automatically be converted to verified Woodland Carbon Units once checks on monitoring and verification reports are completed. This will occur both for Pending Issuance Units originally allocated to the project (which may have already been sold on) as well as those allocated to the Woodland Carbon Code Pending Issuance Units buffer account. Units issued as Pending Issuance Units will retain the same serial numbers as Woodland Carbon Units. Pending Issuance Units which are already assigned to a buyer will be automatically retired.
This principle is fine where the actual verification indicates the same number of units as the prediction. However, an approach for dealing with instances where the actual verification differs from the prediction is outlined below and is in line with the way most existing carbon markets would operate if a project over or under delivers within a given vintage.
Bear in mind that while the prediction / allocation of Pending Issuance Units in Woodland Carbon Code projects is conservative, it is possible that actual sequestration is less than predicted. In this case, Pending Issuance Units will be marked 'not delivered'.
For a given vintage, if verification confirms more units were delivered than allocated to Pending Issuance Units: In proportion, the additional units are allocated to the project and the Woodland Carbon Unit buffer (Table 2).
Table 2: Conversion of Pending Issuance Units to Woodland Carbon Units in the case of over delivery
| Pending Issuance Units (prediction) | Actual verification | Action |
---|
Buffer | 20 | 22 | 20 PIU buffer units converted to WCU buffer units. 2 WCU buffer units listed. |
Project | 80 | 88 | 80 Pending Issuance Units converted to Woodland Carbon Units. 8 Woodland Carbon Units issued to the project developer. |
Total | 100 | 110 | |
If verification confirms fewer units were delivered than allocated to Pending Issuance Units: In proportion, the fewer units are allocated to the project and the Woodland Carbon Unit buffer. Pending Issuance Units not delivered are marked 'not delivered' (Table 3).
Table 3: Conversion of Pending Issuance Units to Woodland Carbon Units in the case of under delivery
| Pending Issuance Units (prediction) | Actual verification | Action |
---|
Buffer | 20 | 18 | 2 PIU buffer units marked not delivered. 18 PIU buffer units converted to WCU buffer units. |
Project | 80 | 72 | 72 Pending Issuance Units converted to Woodland Carbon Units. 8 Pending Issuance Units - the last in serial number order - are marked not delivered. If sold, this is a contractual non-delivery of goods issue for the seller and buyer to resolve. |
Total | 100 | 90 | |
Contracts between buyer and seller might need to be flexible about the amount delivered, but not the timing. For example:
- Guaranteed (I’ll give you 100 units in year x. If it’s not from my project, I’ll give you some from another Woodland Carbon Code/other project) or
- Unit-contingent (I’ll give you about 100 units in year x +/- y%. Pay for what I deliver).
See registry fees for the cost to convert Pending Issuance Units to Woodland Carbon Units/ Peatland Carbon Units or to issue new Woodland Carbon Units. It is free to convert or issue further buffer units.