Increase in tree planting needs to speed up

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has recommended that 30,000 hectares of woodland should be planted annually, more than double the new trees planted last year.

Advising the government, who has signed up to the CCC's goal of the UK of cutting all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the committee warned that the figure may need to rise to 50,000 hectares if other carbon reduction targets are not achieved.

The net-zero target requires woodland to increase from 13 per cent of land in the UK to 17 per cent.

The Woodland Trust, which claims that this would be equivalent to about 1.5 billion new trees, has launched a new pilot scheme offering expert advice and grants of up to £4,000 to landowners who want to create small, new native woods.

Nearly 13,400 hectares were planted between April 2018 and March 2019 with the vast majority - 11,210 hectares - planted in Scotland. Although data shows that planting has increased in the past four years, the last time the UK planted 30,000 hectares of trees in one year was in 1989.

Ewa Kmietowicz, the CCC's transport and agriculture team leader, said: "The government needs to develop a strategy to meet the 30,000-hectare target and it needs to happen quickly. It takes time for trees to grow and absorb carbon. There are many high upfront costs to planting trees. The government needs to get farmers engaged in this."