Honeygar farm is an 80-hectare former intensive dairy farm on the Somerset levels which was purchased by the Somerset Wildlife Trust in January 2021.

Situated on lowland peat, the site was largely drained in the past to increase the yield of dairy cattle. In its current form, the site is a net emitter of carbon emissions, estimated at 1,642 tonnes of CO2 per year, as carbon seeps out of the dried peat.

Now the site is being ‘re-wetted’ to restore valuable habitat for native species. Lowland peat can be one of the most carbon rich habitats known and so the site has potential, not just to reduce its emissions, but to one day sequester vast amounts of CO2 into the soil.

A restored Honeygar is strategically situated between several other wildlife reserves and will act as a corridor for flora and fauna, improving habitat connectivity. The project is a test case for the Wilder Carbon standard for carbon credits.

Incubated by the Kent Wildlife Trust, Wilder Carbon is a company which providing the UK’s only ‘conservation grade’ carbon units, owing to their commitment to sequestering carbon through the creation or restoration of high-quality native habitat. Wilder Carbon projects leverage finance only from the carbon benefit of delivering UK nature restoration, which is then sold to UK business who are demonstrably reducing their own emissions. Wilder Carbon projects are required to demonstrate a biodiversity uplift, and Wilder Carbon will be looking at how they can explicitly bundle these additional benefits in line with emerging biodiversity and nature impact frameworks for meaningful climate impact claims.

Wilder Carbon Units are sold on the ‘voluntary market’). To qualify for purchasing these units, buyers must be also demonstrably reducing their own emissions, avoiding greenwashing and ensuring emissions are also reduced at source. Wilder Carbon also takes a conservative approach to carbon emissions estimating, purposefully underestimating the capacity of sites to absorb carbon so that the process remains defensible and replicable.

This project will provide an opportunity to record, investigate and understand in detail the relationship between wilding ecosystems and carbon capture for lowland peat and forge partnerships to stimulate a new economic model for the Somerset Levels that puts nature-based solutions at its heart.

To find out more, visit Wilder Carbon’s website.