8 | UK News
Confor calls on Sunak government to urgently accelerate tree planting
Forestry and wood trade body, Confor, is urging the new UK government to drastically hasten and extend plans to plant more trees to help limit climate change.
Afforestation and reforestation are crucial to help meet the UK’s climate targets. In the UK forests currently hold 3.7 billion tonnes of carbon – estimated to be the equivalent of 10 years of UK’s annual emissions.
But current afforestation in the UK is a fraction of what it was a few decades ago. The UK now only has 13% forest cover compared with almost 40% in continental Europe.
absorption is projected to plummet in the coming years. In 2020, the annual rate of CO2
accumulation was around 18
million tonnes, but this will decline to around 10 million by 2040. The Conservative government led by Boris Johnson had pledged to plant 30,000ha (75,000 acres) of new woodland every year by 2024, but official statistics recently released show fewer than 14,000ha were planted in the year to March 31, 2022. Scotland planted three- quarters of the total with 10,480ha, with England planting 2,260ha, Wales 580ha and Northern Ireland 540ha. “The UK government, devolved administrations and hundreds of local councils have declared an unequivocal
After years of declining tree-planting rates and with carbon accumulation falling as current UK woodlands mature, the rate of CO2
climate emergency,” said Lord Duncan of Springbank, chair of Confor. “The UK forestry industry now has an unprecedented opportunity to take a leading role in helping the country reach its Net Zero ambitions. The challenges faced by government are not always straightforward but the informed decisions and urgent actions we take now will have a lasting impact for decades to come.” Not all trees grow at the same rate or absorb CO2
in the same way. Faster-
growing, coniferous tree species sequester carbon much more quickly in the early to medium term. And far more carbon is absorbed in mature conifers (40-50 years old) than in slower-growing broadleaf tree species at the same age. However, broadleaf species can accumulate more carbon reserves in the longer term – between 50 and 100 years. The Committee for Climate Change recommends increasing woodland cover in the UK from 13% to between 17-19% by 2050 with a 60-40 split of broadleaf to conifers, to ensure the country achieves Net Zero. Such an increase equates to about 1.5 million ha of additional woodland. However, due to the urgency for action, Confor has gone one stage further, calling for a 50-50 split between broadleaf and conifer planting. It estimates that if 18,000ha were planted every year starting this year, by 2030 these trees would sequester 2.04 MtCO2 1.7 MtCO2
e, of which over e would be stored by conifers
alone. Such an equitable species split would still deliver the benefits a more diversified mix of productive and broadleaf trees, including improving and protecting biodiversity and wildlife habitats “An essential part of limiting climate warming lies in significant carbon dioxide removals (CDR), not only as an adjunct to proactive emissions reduction, but as an essential part of its removal,” said Stuart Goodall, Confor chief executive. “But with many technology-based CDR solutions in their infancy, tree planting is currently the only scalable “negative emissions” strategy. And it comes with additional benefits for biodiversity, wildlife, flood management, health, not to mention employment, production and trade opportunities.” While forests act as a carbon store in the landscape, its product – timber – can also be a permanent store when used in construction and manufacturing. Carbon remains stored in wood products and these can often substitute for non-renewable construction materials such as concrete and steel. Recent research suggests that for every tonne of carbon sequestered in a new wood product, about 1 tonne of carbon is “saved” by avoiding the use of alternative materials.
In its report “Bigger, Better Forests” think tank, Policy Exchange, called for an overhaul of the UK’s forestry sector to drive the uptake of timber in construction. It states that, compared to masonry, concrete and steel, timber can reduce a building’s “embodied carbon” by 20-60%.
About 350 people attended Timber Development UK’s (TDUK) annual dinner on November 2 at 8 Northumberland Avenue, central London.
TDUK dinner gathers members together National Timber Group acquires SV Timber
Many of the attendees had attended TDUK’s market conference earlier in the day (see p6), when delegates were told that tough market conditions will prevail into 2023, although privately some traders expressed some limited optimism that the situation might improve sooner rather than later.
TDUK chairman Chris Sutton addressed the dinner, telling guests about the growth of the organisation and how it was seeking to be a powerful united voice aiming to represent the timber sector and promote
wood to merchant and specification communities. “We have to make it easier for timber to be used with confidence that it is fit for purpose and will do the job,” said Mr Sutton.
“Carbon, carbon footprint and green- washing is something we will hear about for a long time into the future. With timber, we have a great story to tell so let’s tell it.”
Mr Sutton said he expected to see greater consolidation in the timber representative sector in the future.
Several new staff members have been recruited by TDUK to help it achieve its aims.
TTJ | November/December 2022 |
www.ttjonline.com
National Timber Group (NTG) has acquired SV Timber. This is the latest step in NTG’s drive to be the largest independent specialist timber processing and distribution group in the UK, with a focus on value-added products and solutions. SV Timber fills a geographic gap in NTG’s existing branch network and further extends its customer reach within the Midlands. This follows the acquisition of Orchard Timber in late 2021 and the development of specialist business units National Timber Systems (NTS) and Intelligent Door Solutions (IDS).
UK News
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