Source · Select Committees · Welsh Affairs Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 36
We recognise the importance of increasing woodland to tackle the climate emergency.
Conclusion
We recognise the importance of increasing woodland to tackle the climate emergency. However, there are unintended consequences emerging as a result of planting too many trees, of the wrong type, in the wrong place. The move to net zero also needs to be better understood—something that would be helped by greater transparency on what is happening. We have heard legitimate concerns from a large number of witnesses regarding companies buying Welsh farmland for tree planting in order to off-set their carbon emissions. The extent to which this is happening, and the drivers for these actions (and whether they are an unintended consequence of tree planting schemes, including those established by both the UK and Welsh governments), is difficult to establish.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government acknowledges the concerns regarding companies buying Welsh farmland for tree planting and describes arrangements for cooperation between the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations on agricultural support issues. They mention the UK Agriculture Policy Collaboration Group (PCG) and the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (MMG).
Paragraph Reference:
36
Government Response
The government responded to this report on 14 July 2022. No passage in that response could be matched to this conclusion. Read the response document ↗