Responsible Afforestation

Motion as voted upon

Council expresses its concern about the purchase of family farms in Powys and the wider region by multinational companies to plant trees for the purpose of creating ‘carbon credits’ which are sold to polluting companies to meet their carbon offset targets.



While accepting that tree planting on a large scale is recognised as one means of combating climate change, Council regrets that carbon offsetting allows these high carbon-emitting companies to continue with their unsustainable conduct.



Furthermore, Council notes that multinational companies have already claimed over £1.3m from Welsh Government funding via the Glastir Woodland Creation fund, which means that Welsh taxpayers are subsidising the carbon offsetting programmes of companies from outside Wales.

Council supports the principle of responsible afforestation but believes this must be done in consultation with local communities, and should not have a detrimental impact on local employment, culture and community viability.

Council calls on the Welsh Government to

· Ensure that multinational companies who purchase farms to plant trees for the purpose of creating ‘carbon credits’ which are sold to polluting companies to meet their carbon offset targets are not subsidised by Welsh taxpayers.

· Introduce planning development legislation to enable local planning authorities such as Powys to control afforestation projects, and to set a limit on the proportion of land on any farm that can be used for afforestation without the need for planning consent

· Deliver its afforestation plans by developing a publicly owned arms-length company to manage Wales’ forestry and help reach the Welsh Government’s carbon reduction targets

Council recognises the opinion of environmental campaigners that tree planting is not a silver bullet to averting climate change and agrees that only rapid reduction of burning fossil fuels can halt the ongoing and alarming rise in global temperatures.