Woodland Carbon Guarantee (currently closed)
Source: gov.uk (2025-02-18)

A closed scheme that helped accelerate woodland planting rates and develop the domestic market for woodland carbon for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The Woodland Carbon Guarantee is now closed for applications.

Find out about:
- other grants from the Forestry Commission (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/where-to-find-grants-for-trees-and-woodland)
- other grants for farmers and land managers (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/funding-for-farmers)
The Woodland Carbon Guarantee (WCaG) was a £50 million scheme to help accelerate woodland planting rates and develop the domestic market for woodland carbon for the permanent removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It is an objective in the 25 Year Environment Plan (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/25-year-environment-plan) and was announced in the autumn 2018 budget.

What is on offer?

The WCaG gave the option to sell captured carbon from your woodland in the form of verified carbon credits, called Woodland Carbon Units (WCUs). You can sell WCUs to the government for a guaranteed price every 5 or 10 years up to 2055-56.

The government will buy the WCUs for an agreed guaranteed price that is index-linked for the life of the contract. This provides an additional long-term income from your woodland.

You can choose to sell the credits on the open market instead.

WCUs are generated through verification checks carried out under the Woodland Carbon Code (WCC), which assesses how the woodland has grown and how much carbon dioxide has been captured.

The WCaG is not a grant or a fund and it did not contribute towards the cost of woodland creation planning, establishment or early maintenance.

Find out more in our Woodland Carbon Guarantee leaflet (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63e66670d3bf7f05bdd30932/FC_Woodland_creation_carbon_leaflet.pdf) (PDF, 558 KB, 4 pages) and in the detailed guide:

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6614ef77eb8a1b68a805e346/Getting_Started_with_the_Woodland_Carbon_Guarantee.pdf)

Getting started with the Woodland Carbon Guarantee (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6614ef77eb8a1b68a805e346/Getting_Started_with_the_Woodland_Carbon_Guarantee.pdf)

PDF, 683 KB, 12 pages

Projects without grant support

A new category ‘projects without grant support’ was available for the eighth auction for project developers who chose not to receive any grant funding from government to plant and maintain their new woodland.

These projects had access to a higher, but undisclosed, reserve price at auction compared to projects that will receive grant support. The higher reserve price reflected that the upfront costs of planting are borne by the project developer and are not recovered through grants such as the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO).

Projects could still receive Woodland Creation Planning Grant to support the design process and remain eligible for this new category.

Alongside the category for projects without grant support, the eighth auction also accepted applications for projects that intended to use government grant schemes. This needed to be declared on the application form, these projects were subject to the lower reserve price of £30 per WCU.

Find out if you are eligible

The WCaG was open to land managers who are owner occupiers, tenants, landlords and licensors. You needed to have control of the land and all the activities to meet the obligations of the WCaG for the full duration of the contract.

The WCaG application cannot include land:
- which is covered by a statutory requirement to establish or restock woodland
- which is not entirely within England
- where the applicant does not have management control for the length of the agreement and is unable to have an application countersigned by the landowner
- which is owned by public bodies
To apply for the WCaG, woodland creation projects needed to be registered with and managed under the WCC (https://woodlandcarboncode.org.uk/).

How to apply

The Woodland Carbon Guarantee is currently closed for applications.

Projects need to be registered with the WCC (https://woodlandcarboncode.org.uk/).

Read Getting started with the Woodland Carbon Guarantee (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6614ef77eb8a1b68a805e346/Getting_Started_with_the_Woodland_Carbon_Guarantee.pdf) (PDF, 683 KB, 12 pages) to understand the eligibility requirements.

If you have registered and meet the other eligibility requirements, complete the WCaG application form (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/woodland-carbon-guarantee-application-form) and return it to:

xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)

Woodland Carbon GuaranteeForestry Commission620 Bristol Business ParkColdharbour LaneBristol BS16 1EJ

For further advice on the WCaG, email us at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).

How it works

There are 5 stages to the Woodland Carbon Guarantee process.

1. Pre-application

Before applying for the WCaG your project needs to be registered with the WCC. The WCC provides tools for calculating how much carbon will be sequestered by your woodland. You can download the Carbon Calculation spreadsheet and guidance from the WCC website (https://woodlandcarboncode.org.uk/standard-and-guidance/3-carbon-sequestration/3-3-project-carbon-sequestration).

2. Application

The Woodland Carbon Guarantee is currently closed for applications.

Once you calculated how much carbon your woodland will produce and registered it with the WCC, you could submit a Woodland Carbon Guarantee application form (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/woodland-carbon-guarantee-application-form).

3. Auction

The eighth auction was held in September 2024. Further details about the eighth auction, including a list of eligible tree species, can be found in the Guide to the eighth auction (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6614ef9d2138738e3b031bc9/Guide_to_the_eighth_auction.pdf) (PDF, 427 KB, 9 pages).

If the project is successful at auction, a conditional 30 to 35 year contract is offered. You can view a sample participant contract (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f4182410cd8e001136c638/WCaG_Participant_Contract__V05__Final_Samantha_Neck.pdf) (PDF, 216 KB, 13 pages).

The average successful bid price for WCUs to date is shown in the following table. However, the auction is a competitive process and the data in this table should not be taken as a firm indicator of acceptable bids.

4. Validation

All WCaG contract offers are conditional on securing validation under the WCC.

If you have applied for grant funding to plant your woodland, including funding from EWCO, you must have a EWCO agreement in place before you begin any on site work such as fencing. Where grant funding has not been applied for you must secure regulatory consent, including an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before commencing work.

When you are awaiting the outcome of a WCaG auction, you should only start preparatory work where:
- grant funding and/or any necessary regulatory consents have been secured; and
- your project has been successfully registered with the WCC.
Any preparatory work carried out in advance of the outcome of the WCaG auction is entirely at your own risk and should not be done in reliance of success at the auction. If you are not successful, you will still be bound by any obligations attached to the project, including the terms of any grant agreement/s.

At the point when your woodland is validated under the WCC, it is possible to adjust the number of WCUs that can be sold to government under the WCaG, if this is based on a change in the woodland design plan (for example because of the EIA). Any request for a change in the maximum number of WCUs must be made in writing and agreed to in writing by the Forestry Commission. The maximum permitted increase in WCUs is 10% above the quantity requested on the application form and entered the auction; there is no maximum permitted decrease.

Once the project has been validated by the WCC, we will issue the final WCaG contract.

5. Verification

As your woodland grows, it will be verified every 5 or 10 years through the WCC to confirm the amount of carbon that has been sequestered and therefore the number of WCUs delivered. You then have the option to sell the verified credits to the government for the guaranteed price or to sell them privately on the open market.

WCaG contracts will only cover carbon sequestered for the first 30 to 35 years of the woodland’s life. The actual contract length will be determined by the starting year with all contracts ending in 2055-56. WCUs produced after 2055-56 can be sold privately but will not be purchased by the government under the WCaG.

You cannot sell more WCUs to the government at each verification point than the number set out in the contract, except where specifically agreed upon in writing by the government. If the number of verified units drops below 80% of the level set out in the contract, then the government reserves the right to cancel the contract for any future units.

Terms and conditions

For a full copy of the terms and conditions, see the sample participant contract (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f4182410cd8e001136c638/WCaG_Participant_Contract__V05__Final_Samantha_Neck.pdf) (PDF, 216 KB, 13 pages).

Contact the Forestry Commission

To get further advice on the WCaG, email us at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).