Approval Process

To gain UKCCC certification as a high-integrity project producing high-integrity nature credits, landholders need to follow a strict approval process. UKCCC can verify and certify projects that join at later stages by checking that they align at point of entry.

Find the right Project Developer

There are a growing number of project developers, all with the common interest of delivering climate change and biodiversity collapse reversal strategies ensuring the land manager is rewarded for enacting positive change. Project developers can also design and monitor corporate climate and Net Zero journey claims, putting them forward to the UKCCC for approval.
Natural Capital

Design the project

The first thing a project developer will do is to walk over the landholding and come up with a suite of ideas for what can be achieved on the landholding. From a move to regenerative agriculture, tree planting and wetland creation to biochar production and use, agroforestry and habitat creation there is the opportunity to ensure all natural capital assets are optimised to generate and sell credits wherever a positive change has taken place, financed by the issuance and sale of carbon credits. Project developers will continually work with project hosts to further improve the project outcomes and reduce emissions and increase carbon removal over a long period of time.

biodiversity on crops

Establish a baseline

Once it has been decided what the project will set out to achieve, the next step is to measure the baseline scenario. This involves testing soil, establishing the current net CO2e position of the business and conducting a natural capital audit and biodiversity assessment. The UKCCC only issues credits calculated through real, measured and verified outcomes.

Complete the Project Reports

Working with the project host and developer, a detailed report is written using a range of templates. The project developer will gather all the required data to forward to the UKCCC Commissioner for comment and approval. All required project development paperwork is assessed by a third-party validation and verification body before being passed to the UKCCC for final approval.

Project Approval

In the approval process, the UKCCC establishes the number of credits that can be issued. Some will be needed to ensure the landholding achieves Net Zero. Once Net Zero has been established, the UKCCC will certify that position and it can be used by the landholding to sell produce at Net Zero, satisfying supply chain Scope 3 emissions. There will be an uncertainty buffer applied to each project where a number of credits are held back by the UKCCC until a successful 5-year verification process has been conducted after which the buffer credits, less 3% held permanently in the UKCCC National Reserve, are released.

Carbon Tracking

Once the number of carbon credits has been established, they are forwarded to the UKCCC carbon credit registry where they can be sold and retired. All UKCCC credits must be transacted through the UKCCC Registry.

Annual Reporting

Each year an Annual Monitoring Report is completed by the project developer. This is an opportunity to walk the landholding, discuss the project’s progress and work out how things can be improved or further developed to continually optimise the opportunity to sequester more CO2 and improve biodiversity habitats. All baselines are re-measured every 5 years.