Tree planting projects around the world have been marketed as carbon offsetting schemes. Woodland Carbon is not one of them. Here's why:
Under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol, offsetting is an activity that takes place through the Clean Development Mechanism, which allows developed countries to fund renewable energy projects in industrialising countries.
This means that countries with legally binding emissions reduction commitments, such as the UK, cannot host offset projects within their own territories.
Furthermore, the UK Government reports all afforestation (and indeed generates carbon credits) towards its emissions reduction target, and the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) claims this raises the possibility that the sale of any offset would result in double counting.
Woodland Carbon is therefore classed as a carbon sequestration project, even though the basic principle -- that you fund woodland creation to mitigate your residual emissions -- remains the same.
Woodland creation offers much more than mere carbon capture and storage. Planting native trees now will help people and wildlife adapt to the climate changes to which we are irrevocably committed over the coming decades.