Charity launches first Manx carbon credit project

A tree-planting session took place at the Crossags Fields last month

An environment conservation charity has launched the Isle of Man's first carbon credit project.

Expected to sequester over 3,000 tonnes of carbon in the next 50 years as well as establishing and sustainably developing native woodland, ensuring biodiversity and creating a public nature site.

Situated at the Crossags Fields, three local businesses have bought "high integrity" carbon credits produced by tree planting, which has helped to fund the purchase of the land and its future management.

Manx Willdlife Trust chief executive Leigh Morris said the carbon credits were "real trees, in real fields, that you can even help plant and visit at any time to see them grow and develop".

That contributed to the island Biosphere's climate change mitigation and biodiversity strategies, he said.

Income from the carbon credits will be used to pay off the loan used to buy the land

Mr Morris said the project had been "over two years in the making", and while there was "speculation" about carbon offsetting globally, the charity could now offer the credits.

The Crossags Fields are part of the trust's wider Hairpin Woodland Park project, which will encompass native woodland, wetlands, meadows and a forest garden.

A spokesman for the trust said, in creating the pilot it had "learnt a great deal" that could be used to "inform the development of a carbon credit project that other businesses and individuals can buy into".