2. Register your project

Once you’ve found a project developer, the next stage is to register your project following the steps below.

Projects must be registered before work begins on site. This includes ground preparation, fencing, deer control or planting.
Projects registered before 1 October 2022 had different requirements. See key project dates.

1. Create an account on the UK Land Carbon Registry

If you don’t already have an account on the UK Land Carbon Registry, you will need to create one.

To do this, you will need to provide the following information:

Details of your company (if you have one) or yourself (if not), including trading name, registered name, address, email, tax number, website, a copy of the company's certificate of incorporation or other company registration data.
Contact details for billing (name, phone, email)
Contact details of the account holder (name, phone, email)
Contact details of the account manager (name, phone, email and address, if different to main company address)

If you don’t have a company registration number, provide your charity registration number (if you are a charity) or type ‘not applicable’ in the box then choose 'other company registration document'.

You will then have to submit identification for your organisation and the account manager.

Once your details have been checked, S&P Global will send you login information. You will need to upload a copy of personal photo ID before your login is activated.

2. Decide if you're registering a standard project, small project or group

There are different criteria for standard projects and small projects. Review the information below to identify which category best fits your project. There are optional streamlined procedures for small projects.

Standard projects: From 1 May 2024, projects shall be at least one hectare net planted/regenerating area.

A project shall be made up of blocks of woodland at least 0.1 hectares net planted/regenerating area, with a minimum width of ten metres, and a stocking density of at least 400 stems per hectare.
A project shall span up to five planting years in time.
Blocks of woodland within a project must be part of a contiguous land ownership unit or must be under the same ownership, manager and management plan.
A planting area should not be subdivided for the purposes of Woodland Carbon Code validation. For example, if you apply for grant, include at least the whole grant scheme area.

Small projects have the same definition as a standard project, but with five hectares net planting/ regenerating area or less. They may use the streamlined process at validation and verification, provided they use the small project carbon calculator.

Projects which use the small project carbon calculator may also:

Omit a number of sections as indicated in the project design document and project progress report
Carry out basic monitoring from year 15

The Woodland Carbon Code standard and guidance make clear where requirements differ for small projects.

Groups allow projects to be validated and verified together. This enables financial costs to be shared.

A group can span no more than five consecutive planting seasons and be constituted of:

up to 15 standard projects; and
up to 50 hectares (net) area in small projects using the streamlined process

There is no geographic restriction within a group.

If a group manager wishes to make a case to create and validate a group of more than 15 projects or spanning planting period greater than five years, they should contact the preferred validation/verification body and the Woodland Carbon Code team to ask for prior written approval. The addition of new projects after the initial group validation is only allowed in order to replace planted areas that have been withdrawn from the group or suffered losses due to fire, disease etc. If any such additions occur between five or 10-yearly verification events, then a revised project design document needs to be prepared and the group as a whole re-validated.

Ideally, groups will be formed before validation, but it is also possible to form a group for verification. If a group is formed for verification, the project start dates within the group should be within two years of each other (this also means their verifications will be due within two years of each other). Once projects are grouped, the grouping should remain the same for each subsequent verification.

A group requires a group manager and a group agreement, see section 2.1

3. Create a new project or group in your registry account

1. Go to S&P Global's Environmental Registry and choose 'Login' (top right). On your first use, you need to find 'Environmental Registry' in the list of services. See also how to register a project or group on registry (pdf)

2. Once you’re logged in, go to the 'my projects and issuances' tab and click on 'new project' (for a single project) or 'new master project' (for a group). For a group, you need to create 'new subprojects' within the master project.

3. Enter the following information for your 'new project' or each 'new subproject' in a group:

Project name and description
Project implementation date (date work begins onsite), start date (end of planting) and end date (up to 100 years after start date)
Management regime
Validator
Location (grid reference in British National Grid format, nearest town, county, country)
Net area (and whether conifer, mixed or broadleaved)
Predicted carbon sequestration over project lifetime (claimable by project, buffer and total).

4. If you are creating a group, create a dummy 'new subproject' called '<Group Name> Documents' where you can place your group documents. Enter zeros or 'not applicable' for the other fields.

5. Upload your draft carbon calculations and a map. See template documents.

If your project is established by natural regeneration, you will also need to upload an extra map showing any seed sources, the gross, net and upfront claimable areas (see natural regeneration guidance for more information).

6. Click on the button at the bottom of the project screen to submit your project as 'under development'.

What happens next?

We may clarify some details with you. Once approved, S&P Global will confirm your project is now shown as 'under development' in the public view of the registry.

Help and advice

Forestry authorities provide advice on creating woodland, including creating management plans, running consultations, carrying out Environmental Impact Assessments and applying for grants.

Projects using the code can also receive a woodland creation or management grant, but they must meet certain conditions. See our additionality guidance for details.

The UK Forestry Standard sets out requirements for the sustainable management of all forests and woodlands in the UK.

Forest Research provides a range of guides on creating and managing woodland.