Forestry Commission announces air quality improvement initiative

Planting new woodland on four per cent of Britain's land over the next four decades could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to ten per cent in the same period, a new report has revealed.

An independent panel of scientists was enlisted by the Forestry Commission to carry out the research.

The assessment, which outlines the potential role that UK forests could play in alleviating the effects of climate change, is the first of its kind in the world.

Professor Sir David Read, chair of the panel that carried out the study, commented: "All our research points to the fact that forestry can make a significant and cost-effective contribution to meeting the UK's challenging emissions reduction targets."

He added that effective forestry had many uses in the fight against climate change. In addition to the trees locking up carbon directly, he noted that more wood could be used for construction and fuels, reducing the country's reliance on gas, coal and oil.

Earlier this year, there were warnings that the UK would miss its 2020 emissions reduction targets after new research was released by Cambridge Econometrics.

Posted by Claire Manning