Credit buyer · England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Woodland Carbon (buys your woodland carbon)
The Woodland Trust covers planting costs and buys the carbon units from new native woodland you plant, paying in stages.
- From
- Woodland Trust
- How much
- Up to 70% of the agreed carbon value when the site is validated (12-18 months after planting), 15% at the 5-year report and 15% at the 15-year report. No price per tonne published.
- Who can apply
- Landowners across the UK with at least 5 ha available for planting; at least 1,100 trees per ha of native woodland.
- Buys
- woodland carbon
What you’ll need
- Land you own (or landlord consent) that can become permanent woodland
- Land that is not legally required to be woodland already (additionality)
- Usually a felling/creation plan and EWCO or other grant checks
- Registration with the Woodland Carbon Code before planting starts
- At least 5 hectares
How to apply
- Email [email protected] or call 0343 770 5740
- Site review and carbon offer
- Sign agreement
- Register with the Woodland Carbon Code and plant
- Validation, then staged payments
Long-term contract to protect the trees and carbon, with reporting every 10 years for up to 100 years. The Trust receives the carbon units, so you cannot sell them elsewhere. Woodland Carbon Code planting is a permanent change of land use to woodland that binds you and later owners, with monitoring and verification for the project life (often 100 years). Units are usually only part-paid at validation (Pending Issuance Units are a promise, not a finished credit) and the rest on verification years later. Converting farmland to woodland can lower its farmland value and change inheritance tax relief: APR covers land in environmental agreements with government or approved bodies, but private carbon deals may not count, and APR/BPR has been capped since April 2026. Get independent land-agent, legal and tax advice before signing. The government Woodland Carbon Guarantee closed in October 2024.
Similar schemes
- Forest Carbon (woodland and peatland carbon) OpenForest Carbon LtdDevelops woodland and peatland carbon projects with landowners, certifies them under the UK codes and finds buyers or sponsors to fund planting and restoration.
- Woodland Carbon Code (selling woodland carbon units) OpenForestry Commission (UK standard)Register new woodland so you can sell carbon units to buyers on the open market.
- Bidwells LLP (Woodland Carbon Code project developer) Open all yearBidwells LLPListed by the Woodland Carbon Code as a project developer covering England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, offering registration, validation and verification, sale of carbon units and woodland creation design.
- Brown & Co LLP (Woodland Carbon Code project developer) Open all yearBrown & Co LLPListed by the Woodland Carbon Code as a project developer covering England, offering registration, validation and verification, sale of carbon units and woodland creation design.
- CarbonStore (Tilhill) woodland and peatland carbon Open all yearCarbonStore, part of Tilhill ForestryDesigns, plants and manages new carbon woodland and peatland restoration for landowners, registers it under the codes and buys or sells the carbon units.
- Climate Impact Partners (buys/sells UK woodland carbon) Open all yearClimate Impact PartnersCarbon retailer listed by the WCC as a project developer and aggregator that sells woodland carbon units to corporate buyers, so it can buy or market units from your validated project.
Checked against the official pages on 29 October 2026. Sources: 1, 2, 3. Always read the official page before you apply.