Carbon Prices for the UK Voluntary Carbon Market Published for the Third Year with Aim to Drive Transparency
2025 May 15 | Ecosystem Marketplace (EM) publishes voluntary carbon market (VCM) prices for the United Kingdom’s (UK) domestic carbon units from Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) and Peatland Code (PC) projects today, covering transactions from 2020 through 2024. This is the third year EM is collaborating with Scottish Forestry and the The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to examine WCC and PC credit transactions and unit prices.
EM aggregates transaction data from UK project developers and retail aggregators through its Global Carbon Markets Hub, which securely tracks and analyzes VCM credit transactions. To protect the confidential information of EM Respondents, EM cannot report average prices from 2020 and 2021 for the PC.
As of April 2, 2025, the volume of PC credit transactions reported to EM totaled 216,679 tonnes and the total volume of WCC credit transactions reported to EM totaled 1,336,685 tonnes. This includes PC and WCC transactions dating from 2020 through 2024. All transactions reported to EM that could be attributed to a specific project represented assignments of Pending Issuance Units (PIUs). This is based on the list of projects issuing Woodland Carbon Units (WCUs) as of April 2, 2025.
Over a five-year period, from January 2020 to December 2024, the average price of WCC increased from £11.02 in 2020 to £26.85 in 2024. EM did not receive enough data from Peatland Code respondents to report average prices in 2020 and 2021, but EM determined that the average price of PC credits increased from £23.95 in 2022 to £25.04 in 2024.
For the calendar year 2024, EM received transaction data from seven UK Respondents, including seven Respondents who reported WCC transactions representing 38 projects and three Respondents who reported PC transactions representing five projects. As of April 2, 2025, the total 2024 volume of WCC credit transactions reported to EM was 277,815 tonnes and the total 2024 volume of PC credit transactions reported to EM was 187,291 tonnes.
Total WCC Transaction Volume, Average Price, and Price Spread Reported to EM, 2020-2024
| Transaction Year | Volume (tCO2e) | Average Price (GBP/tCO2e) | Price Spread (GBP/tCO2e) |
| 2020 | 251,594 | 11.02 | 130.59 |
| 2021 | 246,148 | 15.41 | 27.76 |
| 2022 | 213,936 | 19.27 | 40.00 |
| 2023 | 345,725 | 24.24 | 37.50 |
| 2024 | 277,815 | 26.85 | 62.00 |
WCC Volume and Price History, 2020-2024
Total PC Transaction Volume, Value, and Average Price Reported to EM, 2022-2024
| Transaction Year | Volume (tCO2e) | Average Price (GBP/tCO2e) | Price Spread (GBP/tCO2e) |
| 2020 | – | – | – |
| 2021 | – | – | – |
| 2022 | 11,416 | 23.95 | 25.00 |
| 2023 | 9,053 | 26.00 | 12.25 |
| 2024 | 187,291 | 25.04 | 7.50 |
Note: EM cannot report volume or average price for PC credits from 2020 and 2021 because of the confidentiality of individual respondent data when there are fewer than 3 respondents.
PC Volume and Price History, 2022-2024
Note: EM cannot report volume or average price for PC credits from 2020 and 2021 because of the confidentiality of individual respondent data when there are fewer than 3 respondents.
Pricing Metrics for WCC Projects by Woodland Type, 2020-2024
| Year | Woodland Type | Volume (tCO2e) | Average Price (GBP/tCO2e) |
| 2020 | Broadleaf | – | – |
| 2020 | Conifer | – | – |
| 2020 | Mixed Broadleaf | – | – |
| 2020 | Mixed Conifer | – | – |
| 2021 | Broadleaf | 57,834 | 16.71 |
| 2021 | Conifer | – | – |
| 2021 | Mixed Broadleaf | – | – |
| 2021 | Mixed Conifer | – | – |
| 2022 | Broadleaf | 27,864 | 22.83 |
| 2022 | Conifer | 66,016 | 16.79 |
| 2022 | Mixed Broadleaf | – | – |
| 2022 | Mixed Conifer | 102,598 | 19.00 |
| 2023 | Broadleaf | 128,622 | 26.33 |
| 2023 | Mixed Broadleaf | – | – |
| 2023 | Mixed Conifer | 41,896 | 21.21 |
| 2024 | Broadleaf | 179,570 | 27.84 |
| 2024 | Conifer | – | – |
| 2024 | Mixed Broadleaf | – | – |
| 2024 | Mixed Conifer | 70,888 | 25.04 |
Note: EM cannot report volume or average price for WCC credits from projects in certain forest types for specific years because of the confidentiality of individual respondent data when there are fewer than 3 respondents.
See also:
EM is grateful to market participants who have reported their sales to date and encourage all WCC and PC market actors to keep reporting transaction data through the Ecosystem Marketplace Global Carbon Markets Hub.
Interested market participants can:
- Contact EM directly to enroll: [email protected]
- Woodland Carbon Code: [email protected]
- Peatland Code: [email protected]
EM will continue to publish updates to these data as more transactions are shared with us.
In 2024 and 2025, this pricing work was funded by Scottish Forestry. In 2023, it was completed as part of the Nature Returns Programme led by Natural England in close partnership with the Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, and RBG Kew, Wakehurst. The Shared Outcomes Funded Programme is sponsored by Defra and DESNZ.
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