Carbon credits — your land, your restored peat, your potential income
The restoration work at the heart of this scheme creates verified carbon value. Here's how that translates into income — and what's still being confirmed.
Headline finding
Peat restoration generates verified carbon credits that can be sold on the voluntary market. The is the UK’s gold-standard certification for exactly this kind of project. Evidence suggests these credits can coexist alongside LRS implementation payments — but we are waiting for specific DEFRA confirmation before presenting this as a settled income stream for Ure Dales participants.
How the Peatland Code works
The Peatland Code certifies the climate benefit of peat restoration. Once restoration work begins, the project generates Pending Issuance Units (PIUs)— effectively a promise to deliver verified carbon credits in the future. After five years of restoration, an independent verifier checks the peatland’s condition and converts a proportion of PIUs into fully verified Peatland Carbon Units (PCUs). Each represents one tonne of CO2 equivalent saved.
The Peatland Code is directly relevant to Ure Dales. Peat restoration — the core of this scheme — is exactly what the Code was designed for. This is not a theoretical future opportunity; it’s how comparable peat projects in the UK are already generating income.
What credits are worth
Carbon credit prices vary with market demand and cannot be predicted. Indicative pricing information is maintained by the IUCN UK Peatland Programme at their UK Carbon Price Index. Seek specialist advice from an accredited project developer before making income projections.
The key question: can credits stack with LRS payments?
DEFRA has confirmed that different public and private finance mechanisms can be combined “where achievable without risking environmental integrity.” The voluntary carbon market (Peatland Code) is a private market instrument — it is not subject to the December 2024 prohibition that blocks Biodiversity Net Gain on LRS land (see the BNG page for that detail).
On current evidence, Peatland Code carbon credits and LRS implementation payments can likely coexist on the same land. The key principle is additionality — the carbon benefit claimed must be in addition to what would have happened without the scheme, and must not double-count the same activity twice.
We are seeking specific confirmation from DEFRA and Accelar. Do not include carbon credit income in financial projections until that confirmation is received.
The Woodland Carbon Code (brief)
The Woodland Carbon Code operates similarly to the Peatland Code — it certifies carbon sequestration in new or managed woodland. For Ure Dales participants with woodland holdings, the same principles apply: credits are likely stackable with LRS, but the same additionality and confirmation caveats apply. The stacking question is particularly relevant for woodland that the scheme’s landscape recovery plan includes within its habitat creation targets.
What this means for the 87/3/10 protocol
If carbon credits are confirmed as a stackable income stream for Ure Dales, the proposed environmental credits split applies: 87% to the originating landowner, 3% to the managing entity, and 10% distributed among all scheme partners by trustmark weighting. See the Income Treatment Reference for detail.
References
- IUCN UK Peatland Code — overview
- IUCN UK Peatland Code — how it works
- IUCN UK Peatland Code — buying and selling credits
- IUCN UK Carbon Price Index (live pricing)
- DEFRA: Combining environmental payments — BNG and nutrient mitigation (stacking guidance)
- Soil Association: Peatland Code certification
- Paludiculture.org: Peatland funding and policy updates 2026–2030
Question about carbon credits? Email Phil directly at phil@opensourcearts.co.uk or use the contact page. We’ll reply before the 30 April workshop where possible.