Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the acreage of forest that would need to be planted in the United Kingdom in order to meet a carbon reduction budget of 50 per cent by 2025; and what is their assessment of the contribution forests and other carbon sinks can make to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

There are no sector specific carbon reduction targets for forests and other carbon sinks but the contribution of these sectors to meeting carbon budgets is set out in the 2011 Carbon Plan. Forests and other carbon sinks can play a valuable role in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the Government has put in place a range of policies to realise this reduction. These include the Rural Development Programme, the Woodland Carbon Code and the UK Forestry Standard as set out alongside Government’s wider forestry objectives in the Forestry and Woodlands Policy Statement.