The government today (Monday 4 November) launched a £50 million scheme to help boost tree-planting rates in the fight against climate change.
The new Woodland Carbon Guarantee will encourage farmers and landowners to plant more trees and create new woodland in return for payments as those trees grow.
It gives land managers in England the long-term financial income they need to invest in carbon sequestration – the process by which trees lock up and store carbon from the atmosphere.
Successful participants will be offered the option to sell Woodland Carbon Units to the government over 35 years at a guaranteed price set by auction, providing new income for land managers who help businesses compensate for their carbon emissions.
Funding for this scheme was announced by HM Treasury in the 2018 Autumn Budget.
To apply for the Woodland Carbon Guarantee, land managers need to register their projects with the Woodland Carbon Code – the voluntary standard for UK woodland creation projects where claims are made about the carbon dioxide they sequester.
Click here to apply for the Guarantee.
