Forest Carbon’s Tree Sponsorship Update: One Year On

Nearly a year on from launching our first sponsorship project, Whitton Wood, and with Fasach Wood now live - and more exciting sites in the pipeline - it’s a great time to share an update on our sponsorship model, its impact so far, and how you can get involved. If you missed our original post introducing the sponsorship model, you can read it here.

What is Forest Carbon's tree sponsorship?

Not every organisation needs to purchase verified carbon credits and not every land manager is looking to generate credits. For buyers, they may simply seek an opportunity to fund nature’s comeback -  and sponsorship provides the perfect option. Sponsorship allows you to fund woodland creation without acquiring carbon units - perfect for organisations with CSR (corporate social responsibility) or nature-positive goals outside formal compensation programmes i.e. offsetting, neutrality or net zero. 

Our sponsorship model is designed to help organisations and individuals support smaller, characterful projects that offer a wealth of environmental and social co-benefits. These are typically sites that wouldn’t otherwise proceed under the Woodland Carbon Code, often due to their smaller scale or limited access to funding. By connecting supporters with these high-impact projects, we’re helping to get more trees in the ground and more nature restored.

A look back: Whitton Wood

Our first sponsorship project, Whitton Wood in Northumberland, has seen incredible support. Nearly 60% of the woodland has now been funded through Carbon Club members and corporate supporters - a huge milestone!

This site is more than just trees. It’s restoring an important wildlife corridor along the River Coquet, reconnecting fragmented ancient oak woodlands on the edge of Northumberland National Park. It’s a great example of how even small woodland projects can deliver powerful outcomes for biodiversity, climate resilience, and landscape connectivity.

What’s new: Fasach Wood

We’re thrilled to announce Fasach Wood as the latest sponsorship project now open for support. Nestled on the Waternish Peninsula on the Isle of Skye, this site will transform the landscape. 

Fasach Wood is designed to support Waternish Farm’s resilience by providing shelter for livestock, while also establishing new habitat for wildlife and enhancing the local landscape. It’s a strong example of a multifunctional woodland - one that brings together nature recovery with practical land use benefits.

Why sponsorship matters

These projects may generally be small in size, but they pack a big punch when it comes to impact. Each site is carefully selected by Forest Carbon for its potential to deliver co-benefits - from biodiversity and landscape enhancement to water quality and community value. Every sponsorship site follows best practice for design and delivery, ensuring high standards even when Woodland Carbon Code certification isn’t part of the process. Forest Carbon also carries out light-touch monitoring and intermittent checks during the establishment years to help ensure good woodland management is in place and has the best possible start as it grows.

What’s next?

We’re incredibly proud of what’s been achieved through sponsorship so far - and we’re just getting started. Several new sponsorship projects are in the pipeline and will be available soon. 

These projects offer a real opportunity to scale up nature’s recovery across the UK, despite potential challenges of scale, we’ve seen the opportunity - these sites are undeniably impactful. To make this model work, Forest Carbon invests upfront, covering early-stage costs and giving these projects the momentum they need. We do this because we believe in the impact these sites will deliver. But the model only works if the funding is matched by ongoing support.

Looking ahead, we’re also exploring how the sponsorship model can evolve to support a wider range of nature-based solutions beyond trees. We’re excited about the potential to apply this approach to other nature-based sponsorship for peatland restoration, natural regeneration, rewilding, and more - helping to unlock funding for the projects to get off the ground. 

We’ve also got more projects just around the corner. One of our upcoming sponsorship projects is Wychwood, which some of the team had the opportunity to visit earlier in May. While it’s not yet live for sponsorship, it’s already shaping up to be something special.

We won’t give too much away just yet - but from linking habitats and creating wildlife corridors to improving water quality and supporting local hydrology, Wychwood is set to deliver meaningful environmental benefits. 

A sneak peek of the Wychwood site

Stay tuned - we’ll be sharing more about Wychwood very soon. Follow us on our social channels to stay in the loop for when this one is live.

Whether you're a business looking to contribute to nature recovery or an individual wanting to fund practical environmental action, sponsoring a woodland is a powerful way to make a difference.

Want to support a project or learn more about sponsorship? Check out our available sponsorship sites or get in touch with us.