Buying credits

• A Pending Issuance Unit (PIU) is effectively a ‘promise to deliver’ a Peatland Carbon Unit in the future. It is not ‘guaranteed’ and therefore cannot be used to report against emissions until verified. However, it allows companies to plan to compensate for future emissions. The sale of a PIU always requires a legal contract to determine who carries the risk of the PIU not getting verified in the future. At the start of a project, all units available are PIUs as the restored peatland hasn’t yet made any emissions savings.  

• A Peatland Carbon Unit (PCU) is a tonne of CO₂e emissions savings from a Peatland Code certified peatland. It has been independently verified, is guaranteed to have been achieved, and can be used to report against a business’s emissions as soon as it is purchased. The sale of a PCU does not require a legal contract. 

Five years after a peatland has been restored, and at least every 10 years thereafter, projects are checked by an independent verification body, and assuming the peatland is still in a good condition, a proportion of the PIUs are turned into PCUs. 

Landowners and project developers will make carbon buyers aware of the Peatland Code guidance on GHG claims.  

Any carbon statement by the landowner, the project developer or the carbon buyer must be true and accurate and conform with recommended wording. Statements of the GHG benefit of the project must clearly state the timescale over which the emissions reduction will take place. 

Emissions reductions can only be reported, or used, after the emissions reductions have occurred and have been verified (i.e. Peatland Carbon Units) in accordance with guidance. This is sometimes called ex-post reporting. The project must make buyers aware of Peatland Code requirements with regards to GHG statements and GHG reporting. 

Companies can only make claims about the emission reduction benefit of a peatland restoration project if they have purchased either Pending Issuance Units or verified Peatland Carbon Units from a Peatland Code project or have established a validated Peatland Code project on their own land or land they are in control of.  

Only verified Peatland Carbon Units (from the Peatland Code) and Woodland Carbon Units (from the Woodland Carbon Code) are recognised in the UK Government’s Environmental Reporting Guidelines. 

For example statements, please view the Peatland Code Guidance Document. 

The UK Land Carbon Registry shows available projects or alternatively buyers can use the services of a specialist carbon broker to actively search for a suitable project on their behalf. Projects can market the benefits of their project at any time over its duration.  

No. A project proponent or buyer can assign units to a buyer for you. Please see the below webpages (link to below pages) for further information.  

You do not need an account to have access to the public view of the registry. 

Peatland Code Registry

Registry accounts

Registry Fees

Peatland Carbon Units (PCUs) are only available once a project has been verified, 5 years after a peatland has been restored. We do not currently have any verified projects and do not yet know the price of PCUs. 

Market research showed the average price per tonne of Pending Issuance Units (PIUs) was £23.95 with a spread of £25 in 2022. For more detail on carbon prices, please view our UK Carbon Price Index  webpage to see the published price of voluntary carbon units in the UK purchased from Woodland Carbon Code or Peatland Code projects. 

A price is agreed between the project owner (or developer, if employed) and the buyer. The Peatland Code does not have any involvement in the sale of carbon units. The cost of peatland carbon varies due to the type of damage, scale of the restoration, public funding, risk management and many other factors. The price of a carbon unit can reflect this variation. 

UKAS 

The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the national accreditation body for the UK appointed by the government, to assess organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services 

In May 2022 UKAS were satisfied that the Peatland Code meets the requirements for conformity assessment schemes required by ISO/IEC 14065 and EA-1/22. UKAS will now look to accredit our validation/verification bodies against the Peatland Code. This phase is expected to complete in 2024. 

For further information, please click here.

ICROA 

The International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA) Accreditation Programme defines and promotes best practice in the financing of high-quality emissions reductions and use of carbon credits as an effective carbon management tool. 

While UKAS is accreditation for our validation and verification bodies, ICROA is aimed at the Peatland Code to ensure that emission reductions achieved by carbon projects adhere to the highest quality principles and processes. This label guarantees transparency, accountability, and drives market confidence that the PCUs are a high integrity carbon credit.   

For further information, please click here. 

ICVCM 

In March 2023 the Integrity Council for The Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) released their 10 Core Carbon Principles aimed at creating greater transparency and integrity for carbon credits. 

The Peatland Code is currently applying to ICVCM for CCP approval. Please click here for further information.