Could your land reduce your carbon footprint?
The need for ambitious measures to tackle climate change has never been more urgent and the evidence is unequivocal that more and faster action is needed. As every sector looks to decarbonise and become carbon neutral, land holders have a unique opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint through nature-based solutions such as woodland planting and carbon sequestration.
Reducing your carbon footprint
Through carbon sequestration, trees store carbon in biomass above and below ground, effectively and efficiently removing atmospheric carbon and mitigating the effects of climate change.
This makes woodland planting an attractive nature-based solution for land holders and estate managers who are looking to reduce or offset their carbon emissions.
Wider benefits of woodland planting
On top of the obvious climate change benefits, if done correctly, a woodland planting scheme can also improve local biodiversity and can minimise flood risk onsite.
There are also financial benefits with a number of funding initiatives such as the government’s Environmental Land Management Scheme (UK), Native Woodland Establishment Scheme (NWS Est.) and Afforestation Grant and Premium Scheme (RoI) Scheme set up to encourage land-owners and managers to take action.
Assessing your site's carbon sequestration potential
We can offer a robust assessment of the carbon sequestration potential of woodland planting on your site in a way that also measurably improves biodiversity and minimises flood risk.
Using the Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) calculator, Â a tool developed by the Forestry Commission, we quantify the total tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents that could be sequestered taking into consideration the possible trade-offs between carbon sequestration potential, ecological value enhancement and flood risk protection.
To complete our assessments, we bring together a team of carbon assessors, ecologists and landscape architects to measure:
- Cumulative tonnes of sequestered carbon emissions per hectare of planned woodland area over the duration of a project, whilst accounting for any carbon emissions due to soil disturbance and site preparation.
- BNG credits (set against a defined baseline so all enhancements can be measured as credits)
- Nutrient improvements (particularly Nitrates and Phosphates removed via new riverine and wetland habitats)
- Flood risk reductions
- All ‘natural capital’ services together.
Accreditation and reporting
It’s important that the carbon benefit of any woodland planting efforts can be accredited through a recognised scheme such as the WCC. This provides independent verification and safeguards that woodlands are created as planned and will be maintained in the long term.
Our assessments provide the information needed to secure accreditation and enable reporting on Woodland Carbon Units (WCUs) which can be used to claim offset greenhouse gas emissions in company reporting.
In the pursuit of a carbon neutral future, woodland planting can be an effective method to reduce carbon whilst enhancing and future proofing estates.
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