In our latest case study, we look at Glen Dye Moor, a 6,300-hectare site in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. We intend to rejuvenate the land, simultaneously removing carbon from the atmosphere, and delivering financial outcomes for investors and social benefits for local communities.
Read this article to understand:
- The ambition to revitalise Glen Dye in Aberdeenshire
- How careful planting and ecosystem restoration could generate environmental improvements and positive financial returns
- The social impact and biodiversity implications
The valleys etched into the Scottish landscape play a vital role in Scottish mythology.
Glen Dye Moor, covered in gorse, peatland and a network of freshwater streams, lies at the heart of this storied place. It has an illustrious history; it was once owned by the Gladstone family, whose descendant William Gladstone became Prime Minister in 1868.
While Glen Dye Moor looks relatively untouched, the rugged land reflects years of human intervention. A lot of native woodland has been cleared, and the mix of tree species that once lived there has been reduced.
Today, however, Glen Dye Moor is being reborn, recast for the local community and put to work as a powerful carbon sink. Managing the role plants play in the carbon cycle could make a significant difference to Glen Dye’s carbon balance and help real asset investors meet their net-zero ambitions.
We acquired part of Glen Dye Moor in December 2021 and with our partners at Par Equity have several long-term objectives for this wonderful landscape.
We intend to:
- Use natural pathways (“nature-based solutions”) to sequester carbon to meet climate targets, through tree planting and peatland restoration
- Generate financial return from productive forestry
- Develop social capital by expanding local knowledge and skills in forestry and conservation
- Improve public access trails and upgrade facilities across the site
- Improve biodiversity by restoring degraded heathland and creating high-quality mixed woodland for native species to thrive
Glen Dye Moor: projected carbon removals
Total projected carbon removals (tonnes of CO₂e, net of the risk buffer, 100 years)
For illustrative purposes only.
Note: Based on UK Woodland Carbon Code and UK Peatland Code calculations for the consented planting design and the registered peatland restoration phases. Claimable units, net of the risk buffer, over the project life.
Source: Scottish Woodlands carbon report, September 2025; Aviva Investors, 2026.
The power of trees
We aim to increase carbon uptake by planting around five million trees, including around 2,750 hectares of new woodland – 1,420 of various native species and 640 of productive conifer. We will establish a further 690 hectares of native woodland through natural regeneration.1
The amount of carbon dioxide captured by the trees on the site will vary depending on the precise mix of species planted. Take-up expected in one part of the Glen (Lot 2, which will include broadleaf and commercial species), is shown below (Figure 1).
In the early years, the site will be a carbon source (i.e., emit carbon dioxide) as planting will disrupt the soil, but by year 13 it is projected to become a carbon sink as the soil stabilises, and more carbon dioxide is absorbed into the trees through photosynthesis.
Figure 1: Projected carbon storage and sequestration, cumulative carbon sequestration (tCO₂e)
For illustrative purposes only.
Indicative projection for Lot 2.
Source: Aviva Investors, Scottish Woodlands, 2024.
Commercial potential: Revenue from commercial forestry, woodland planting and nature restoration
There are several commercial angles to our scheme.
The commercial woodland will be managed and felled to help meet domestic timber demand, which has been growing. The site will be additional (it will sequester more carbon than would have taken place under existing business circumstances and it needs carbon income to be financially viable), and activities will not undermine food security.
We expect the units to be of high integrity, meeting UK Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) and Peatland Code standards. Both codes are specifically structured with a buffer or margin of safety to try to give investors in carbon credits greater certainty about what they are acquiring (see further details below).
We are also accessing grant support through Scottish Forestry’s Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS), with approval expected at the September clearing, after which we will begin the next phase of works.2
In 2026, we also secured a delivery grant from NatureScot’s Nature Restoration Fund to support the nature restoration programme, including a two-year programme of river restoration works on the River Dye.
Our planting and phasing are being guided and approved by experts at Scottish Forestry, the Scottish government agency responsible for forestry policy, support and regulation which oversees quality assurance standards in the Woodland Carbon Code (WCC).3
As of May 2026, following a statutory impact assessment and a public consultation, the scheme now has full regulatory consent, making it one of the largest woodland creation schemes consented in Scotland in a generation.4
Scottish Woodlands (a leading forestry management company) is implementing the scheme on the ground and its input should ensure that as the trees grow, the carbon locked away is rigorously monitored through site visits, with the associated carbon credits verified by an independent third party and logged on a public register. This independent validation, coupled with the biodiversity and social benefits that should be achieved gives the project high integrity, in our view.
Work on the ground is progressing well. A significant amount of peatland restoration has been completed and another 780 hectares are out to tender.
We have received a felling licence for a small amount of the existing commercial crop. And we have begun in-river restoration on the River Dye, where we are installing large woody habitat structures to slow flows and improve spawning conditions for salmon and other freshwater species.
Carbon projections incorporate a contribution into a centrally managed “buffer” or pool (see Figure 1), which has been structured to reassure buyers that the carbon units they expect will be delivered.
Managing uncertainty: How the buffer in WCC-accredited schemes is designed to reassure investors that future carbon units will be delivered
The WCC buffer intends to safeguard the investment made by carbon investors and protect the integrity of verified Woodland Carbon Units. The buffer or pool contains contributions from all verified projects and is held in an account in the UK Land Carbon Registry, managed by Scottish Forestry.
Verified projects each contribute a risk-assessed share of the project’s net carbon sequestration into the pool. At Glen Dye Moor, that share is 20 per cent, for both the woodland and the peatland projects. The WCC then commits to “ensure there are always sufficient units in the pooled buffer to cover any unanticipated losses from individual project failures”, for example, through fire damage, which could reduce the standing volume of the trees.5
If an unexpected loss of carbon takes place, the project can claim units back from the buffer, and then come to an arrangement to pay that margin back over time.
Read more about how the buffer is managed in WCC-accredited schemes and how risk and permanence are addressed.
Restoring peatland to improve the carbon balance
Peat is more effective at locking up carbon than trees, but peatlands that are damaged or drained due to human activity gradually release their carbon stores.6 Many Scottish peat bogs have been drained to make room for grazing animals or forestry; in some areas, distilleries have extracted peat at scale, burning it to lend Scottish whiskies their distinctive smoky flavour.
There is no commercial peat extraction on Glen Dye Moor, but some of the peatland has been degrading as a result of repeated burning and grazing. Our long-term aim is to restore 1,800 hectares of peatland, stabilising the ecosystem to reduce emissions. We completed the latest phase of this restoration work in August 2026, with further phases planned from March 2027.
We are creating dams, blocking man-made drains and layering healthy, moist peat over dried out vegetation, in a process similar to skin grafting (see image below). The aim is to limit erosion from exposed areas and prevent ecosystems drying out, creating zones where moisture-loving species like sphagnum moss can thrive.
Ensuring social co-benefits
While we fine-tune land management, we want to ensure benefits accrue to the local community who live and work in the area and those who come to visit. This will ensure the project not only meets strict environmental criteria but also enhances social value.
Our approach is directly aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG 13 on climate action is our first priority, but we are also targeting other benefits aligned with SDG goals (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Nature-based carbon capture: Alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Source: United Nations, Aviva Investors, 2026.
Broadly, we are concentrating on employment, education and public access. In the next five years, we estimate a need for 40 years’ full-time equivalent employment, which we hope can be supplied by local providers.7 We are also using the site for training, offering forestry skills, enhancing knowledge on peatland restoration and health and safety.
Glen Dye Moor hosts dedicated peatland restoration training sites, supported by NatureScot’s Peatland Action programme, where new entrants to the sector learn machine and hand restoration techniques alongside experienced contractors. Recent restoration phases have paired the principal contractor with a new-entrant contractor on the training side, building capacity in a market where skilled peatland contractors remain scarce.
The site also sits within a wider forestry skills pipeline, including the new-entrant training courses run with the Scottish School of Forestry at UHI Inverness, whose five-week, award-winning pilot course attracted more than 100 applicants for seven places.8 Two cohorts, totalling 24 students, have been through the programme, with a third rotation expected for Q1 2027.
We are also coordinating with local schools to promote forestry and timber as a STEM subject by rolling out a “Climate Smarter” curriculum programme in partnership with STEMovators in local secondary schools, as well as encouraging educational visits and enhancing public access. The “Climate Smarter” programme now reaches around 165 schools across Angus and Aberdeenshire, bringing forestry, peatland restoration and climate content into the classroom, and connecting pupils with the careers the sector is creating.
“The health benefit of spending time in nature is well-known. We are upgrading car parks, so it’s easy to visit. We will be maintaining pathways to limit damage by walkers, and bothies, so walkers have sites to shelter, and making sure social activities continue. Dog walking, scout camping, educational visits – they are all part of the plan.”
Glen Dye Moor is one of the north east’s best-loved outdoor destinations. The path to Clachnaben tor carries an estimated 20,000 walkers a year. The hill also hosts an annual race in April, and the Scottish Orienteering League staged a round on the site in May 2026.
Access improvements are under way to support that use. We are upgrading the main car park at Spital Burn and, halfway up the glen, we continue to let the historic Charr Bothy to the Mountain Bothies Association for a peppercorn rent, keeping it open as a free shelter for walkers.
Biodiversity benefits
One important co-benefit of our scheme is that it aims to improve wildlife and tree species biodiversity, encouraging more native breeds, including birds, butterflies and bees. The scheme operates under species protection plans for ground-nesting waders, and we will continue our survey work to monitor black grouse and wader populations as the scheme develops.
The site’s watercourses also form part of the River Dee Special Area of Conservation, one of Scotland’s most important salmon rivers. New woodland, buffered zones along the burns, and the peatland restoration are designed to improve water quality, cool and shade the watercourses, and strengthen the catchment’s resilience to flooding.
These outcomes will be measured rather than assumed. The University of Stirling is now running a PhD research programme on the site, installing monitoring instruments in the riverbed, ecological monitoring points across the moor, and fixed-point photography stands to capture habitat change over time, with the research scope extending to peat percolation and water quality. This is building an independent, long-term evidence base for the project’s environmental outcomes.
Delivering on multiple objectives
Traditionally, asset managers have presented clients with binary options: either seeking to deliver strong absolute returns or putting capital to work to deliver non-financial outcomes.
The climate transition and new awareness of the pace of biodiversity loss suggest a more nuanced approach is needed. On Glen Dye Moor, we intend to combine financial, environmental and social objectives.
This is an opportunity for those with net-zero targets who need to access credible, traceable carbon units to address residual carbon from operations, but also need long-term income through the transition. Our approach simultaneously hedges against the increasing cost of carbon credits and contributes in a direct and meaningful way to current environmental challenges.
Glen Dye Moor: Facts and figures
Land area acquired
Aberdeenshire, Scotland
EIA consent granted
As at August 2026
Productive conifer, as consented
Projected carbon removals, project life, 100 years
Woodland Carbon Code and Peatland Code, net of buffer
