Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee

Recommendation 18

Fifth Report - Seeing the wood for the trees: the contribution of the forestry and timber sectors to biodiversity and net zero goals Published 19 Jul 2023 Paragraph 88

Environmental Audit Committee Sustainable timber and deforestation All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Recommendation (the committee's words)

The Government is relying on third parties to plant the lion’s share of the trees required to meet its tree planting targets and thus deliver timber production as well as a suite of climate and environmental objectives. It is therefore crucial that the Government is clear on what it requires prospective planters to do, and that it provides competitive and targeted incentives to encourage this. Given that the timber sector is a for-profit sector, it is appropriate that the England Woodland Creation Offer pays public money to incentivise the provision of public goods in the form of ecosystem services and nature restoration. We are nevertheless concerned that prospective planters seeking to plant productive woodlands are deterred from applying for the scheme because of a perception that it does not support productive forestry. The Government must therefore communicate as clearly as possible the fact that the England Woodland Creation Offer—the main grant to incentivise tree planting—can be used to support mixed forests which are commercially productive as well as benefiting nature recovery.

From: Environmental Audit Committee, Fifth Report - Seeing the wood for the trees: the contribution of the forestry and timber sectors to biodiversity and net zero goals (HC 637), paragraph 88, 19 July 2023

Government response

The government responded to the whole report on 15 December 2023 (deadline 19 September 2023).

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government agrees that forestry and timber will be crucial nature-based solutions for Net Zero and biodiversity, says it has "already acted or is planning action" on many recommendations, and sets out where it is working with industry and consulting rather than committing to the Committee's specific proposals.

On sub-targets for woodland types, the Government says it "could consider" them but that they "would not be statutory", and that a single undifferentiated target was set "to improve delivery confidence".
On a long-term domestic timber production target, it says setting one "would be challenging" because harvesting rates depend on factors such as global timber markets.
On the Timber in Construction Roadmap, it reports "good progress" and says it intends to publish "later in 2023".
On biomass, it says its Biomass Strategy sets out actions the Government is "minded to take" to strengthen sustainability criteria, "subject to consultation", and "intend[s] to publish a consultation" in 2024.

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