Carbon associated with thousands of trees planted in Nottinghamshire will be used to generate funding to reinvest in maintaining woodland creation sites to help meet the challenges facing the environment.

New wooded areas have been created at several sites as part of Nottinghamshire County Council’s ongoing drive to plant more trees to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Up to 250,000 trees have been planted across the county in the past five years through the Government-led programme Trees for Climate – delivered locally via the Greenwood Community Forest initiative hosted by the council’s conservation team.

Now an opportunity has been identified to register carbon stored by trees planted on council-owned land with the Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) and utilise the resulting carbon credits to help the council with its ongoing management of its green spaces.

Carbon credits are tradeable units which are certified by the WCC, the quality assurance standard for woodland carbon projects and used by councils and others to reduce their carbon footprint and fund further environmental projects to achieve net zero targets.

This means that moving forward the county council would be able to raise funds, potentially worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, to plough back into sustainable ‘green’ initiatives.

Councillor Neil Clarke MBE, the county council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, said: “This is an excellent way of creating new revenue streams which can then be reinvested into environmental projects, including further tree-planting initiatives on council-owned land,

“By doing this, we will be able to improve air quality, create new habitats for wildlife, contribute to biodiversity and enhance our green spaces for residents to enjoy – as well as help the council with our carbon neutrality goals.

“I would like to thank our conservation teams for working tirelessly to plant thousands of trees across Nottinghamshire, which highlights our ongoing commitment to tackle the environmental challenges we face.

“I know how important the environment is to the people of Nottinghamshire, and I am sure they will welcome the work which is being done to breathe new life into our green spaces.”

Areas of new woodland registered with the WCC include sites acquired through the Trees for Climate programme at Monarch Wood, near Brinsley, Thorney Abbey Farm, Southwell, and Debdale Hill Wood, Little Carlton, as well as part of existing council-owned land at Cotgrave Country Park.

Around 114,000 trees will be planted at the Debdale Hill Wood and Thorney Abbey Farm sites, which were purchased by the county council through the Trees for Climate scheme last summer.

Newark and Sherwood District Council has agreed to fund 30% of the trees that are due to be planted – with 27,000 earmarked for Debdale Hill Wood and 87,000 at Thorney Abbey Farm.

Wayne Bexton, the county council’s Director of Green Growth, Investment and Assets, said: “These sites will enable us to plant more than 100,000 trees which is transformational from a social and environmental perspective, and is also helping us to work towards our net zero ambitions.

“We have been delighted to partner with Newark and Sherwood District Council too, with them supporting 30% of the trees we are planting.’’