A hedgerow carbon code tool has been developed by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and is now being piloted on 3 farms. The code will encourage hedgerow habitat improvements to increase the amount of carbon stored by hedges, contributing to British farming’s net-zero target and boosting biodiversity. It will allow land managers to calculate and verify the carbon capture potential of their hedgerows, enabling them to trade carbon credits – a market with a potential value of £60m.
The Hedgerow Carbon Code includes a tool that will enable the carbon stored in a hedge to be calculated and verified, incentivising land managers to plant and manage hedgerows – an important part of the government’s new Sustainable Farming Incentive. The tool also has the potential to be developed further to monitor hedgerow biodiversity for calculating biodiversity credits.
Going forward, planting and managing hedgerows well will enable land managers to access the Sustainable Farming Incentive and open opportunities to generate income from carbon and biodiversity credit trading. That can only be good news for UK agriculture, climate change and British wildlife.
Once the tool has been tested hopefully it will be available (anticipated in Spring 2023) to use and assist with the opportunities to be available in carbon credits.