Woodland Carbon Code
Forests and Climate Change
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Forests and Climate Change
• Forests, woodlands and trees can help to combat
climate change through mitigation and adaptation.
• The challenge is to adapt to new threats and new
opportunities but maintain sustainable forests and
woodlands.
• New guidelines in the UK FS –
Forests and Climate Change
available from the FC website
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Forests and Climate Change
The UK approach to forestry and climate change is defined in
terms of the following six key actions:
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protecting the forests that we already have;
reducing deforestation;
restoring forest cover;
using wood for energy;
replacing other materials with wood;
planning to adapt to our changing climate.
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Carbon capture in new woodlands and its protection in their
soils and further integration of land uses are key policy
themes across the UK
•
The UK government has signalled its support for woodland
creation in the UK low Carbon Transition Plan and announced
that it would support a new drive to encourage private funding
of woodland creation.
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Forests and Climate Change
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
The Woodland Creation Agenda
July ‘09
Nov ‘09
May ‘10
March ‘10
Dec ‘11
July ‘11
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Woodland Creation and Climate Change
Drivers
• We need more trees for
landscape resilience,
wildlife, recreation and
products
• More trees will help
reverse some of the
damage being done by
GHG emissions
• Trees are a very cost
effective way of reducing
atmospheric carbon levels
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Woodland Carbon Code
Why do we need a Woodland Carbon Code?
• Market free for all – no regulation to protect
investors
• Different quality of woodland creation,
establishment and management
• No standard way of estimating or predicting
carbon uptake
• No guards against double selling or double
counting of carbon benefits
• In response to industry calls to “get the house
in order”, the FC has led the development of
the Woodland Carbon Code: a good practice
guide for carbon project owners
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
How can carbon help?
• Companies, institutions and individuals
sometimes purchase carbon “credits” to
compensate for GHG emissions
• Buying ‘carbon’ can be invaluable in making
the cash flow for a woodland project work
• With the benefits of carbon finance there are
responsibilities, namely to ensure a woodland
project is properly managed to deliver and to
provide transparent accounting of progress
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
The Goal
Income from the sale of woodland carbon may
• Help encourage landowners to plant more woodland
• Provide another source of income for landowners
• Make woodland a more attractive land use compared to
traditional farming
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Woodland Carbon Code
The Standards
The Standards
To meet the requirements of the Code projects
will need to:
• Register with the FC, stating the exact location
and long-term objectives of their project
• Meet UK standards for sustainable forest
management
• Have a long-term management plan
• Use approved methods for estimating the
carbon that will be captured
• Demonstrate that the project delivers
additional carbon benefits than would otherwise
have been the case.
The Code is Voluntary
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
The Standards
Additionality – would the planting have happened anyway?
• The woodland planting must not be legally required
• Government grants must not exceed 85% of planting and forest
management costs
•Carbon finance must be shown to be a deciding factor in the
woodland creation happening
•Each project will be assessed on its own merits
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
The Standards
Leakage
• New woodland usually comes at the expense of some other land
use activity such as agriculture, which involves net GHG
emissions.
• There is a risk that establishing a new woodland might drive
deforestation or intensify production elsewhere to allow the
equivalent agricultural production.
• There is virtually no chance of this being an issue in the UK,
however we must take account of the fact that it could occur.
• Given the scale of land conversion under consideration, leakage
presents a very minor risk at present.
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
The Standards
Permanence
• Although we measure carbon stocks by measuring the trees, it is
actually the woodland that is the carbon storage unit. Woodland
are expected to remain in perpetuity.
•The Forestry Act provides protection and reasonable safeguards
against woodland loss.
•Each project includes a substantial “buffer” for unexpected
catastrophic losses (e.g. fire, disease, drought).
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Woodland Carbon Code
Counting Carbon
Counting Carbon
Measuring the carbon baseline:
Project managers must measure the woody vegetation already on
site and convert into an estimate of the carbon currently stored
there.
Estimating future carbon:
1. Forest carbon modelling
In the future we hope to have more user friendly and dynamic
models that will be better suited to real life situations.
2. Carbon lookup tables
Right now we have pre-calculated future carbon capture
predictions for a range of woodland types with a range of site
conditions.
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Counting Carbon
Carbon Look Up Guidance booklet tells you how:
• to choose a scenario which most closely reflects your own
woodland project
• to combine the results from different scenarios allowing you
to create a more complex, mixed species woodland
• to use the scenarios to come up with a prediction of the
amount of carbon your woodland creation project might
capture over its lifespan
These tables were constructed and the
assumptions used have their limitations
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
CO2 in the Woodland
Unmanaged native broadleaved woodland planted at 3 metre spacing with
an expected yield class 8 has accumulated 901 tCO2e/ha at year 100
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Woodland Carbon Code
& Greenhouse Gas Reporting
Guidelines
Government’s Carbon Plan
Woodland Carbon Code compliant woodland creation
projects are now a reportable positive activity under
Defra’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Guidelines (along
with carbon offsetting) .
IEMA and CBI and others have supported the
proposal that GHG reporting becomes mandatory in
line with a requirement of the 2008 Climate Change
Act to determine this by 2012. This could potentially
provide a demand for woodland creation.
Dec ‘11
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Key points
• UK-based woodland creation should not be described as
carbon offsetting. However, as with carbon offsetting it
can now and should be reported under a separate line in
organisations GHG reports;
• Carbon uptake can only be reported once the carbon
has been removed from the atmosphere - carbon
uptake cannot be reported in advance;
• Conformance with the Woodland Carbon Code is a
requirement for inclusion of woodland GHG removals as
a component of net GHG emissions;
• Emissions associated with deforestation/woodland
removal should also be reported;
• Companies are allowed to submit a narrative report
which gives details of their projects future sequestration
value with their GHG reports.
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
The Voluntary Carbon
Market
Voluntary Carbon Market
131.2 MtCO2e transacted in 2010 in the
global voluntary carbon markets.
Volumes grew by 34% compared to 2009
& exceeded historic levels.
Substantial growth forecast for 2011
reach 213 MtCO2e.
to
By 2015, suppliers’ predict a market size
of 406 MtCO2e.
Woodland Carbon Code compliant
woodland creation is now a reportable
positive activity under Defra’s Greenhouse
Gas Reporting Guidelines.
These guidelines may become mandatory
for many more companies in 2012
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Woodland Carbon Code
Progress since July 2011
Progress
Detailed best
practice
requirements &
guidance developed
Pilot programme
completed
Code launched in
July 2011
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Progress
• Applications from projects for certification under the Code
have been growing steadily since its launch in July ‘11
• 52 projects now registered;
• 7 projects validated over 200,000 tC02e;
• These projects will create 2,500ha of new woodland and
capture the equivalent of 1,000,000t of CO2.
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
What Next?
• Further clarify key guidance – eg. soils
• Develop & pilot a group certification scheme
• Establish a robust Woodland Carbon Unit registry
• Consider potential for the Code to cover management of
existing forests and end use of wood products.
• Consider implications of international post-Kyoto
Climate Change agreements for relevance of Code to UK
compliance markets
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
Progress
• New national woodland carbon
standards
• Information & guidance on
woodland carbon
• Independent project
certification scheme
• Additional funding stream for
woodland creation
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
The ‘Approved Project’ Logo
Any Questions?
Contact: [email protected]
forestry.gov.uk/carboncode