6. What guidance does the Welsh Government provide to companies that use Welsh land for carbon offsetting purposes? OQ56962

Thank you for the question. 

The woodland carbon code is a voluntary standard for woodland creation projects in the UK. It is backed by all four Governments and provides a mechanism for landowners to engage in the carbon market. The code's website provides guidance to projects that are interested in carbon sequestration from woodlands.

Thank you very much, Minister. It's true to say that there is general support for the Welsh Government's aim of seeing Wales become a carbon-neutral nation by 2050, but it's clear that there are problems in the carbon market at the moment, particularly in terms of how this impacts our agricultural land. In a series of responses to written questions from me, the Government has now confirmed that public funds through the Glastir scheme are being provided to companies outwith Wales for them to plant trees. Whole farms across Wales are being bought for this purpose, with multinational companies selling the carbon on the international market. Unfortunately, when a piece of farmland is sold in this way, this land is no longer available for Welsh farmers for carbon offsetting, and just as importantly it won't be available either to help the Welsh Government to reach its target of being net zero. So, what's the solution to the problem? Well, we could change the funding system or use the planning system. So, Minister, does the Welsh Government recognise that there is a problem here, and are you willing to take steps by changing the funding system and the planning system in order to tackle this problem? Thank you.

We absolutely do acknowledge that there's potential for a real problem here, but at the same time we currently provide support to landowners if they want to plant trees on their land, and they have to do that in accordance with a tree planting plan. So, you can't just whack any old tree over any old land; you must actually get your tree planting plan approved. Actually, one of the things we discussed—. My colleague Lee Waters, as you know, has just done a deep dive into trees, and one of the things that came up there was the exact opposite of that, which is that sometimes the tree planting plans are a barrier to tree planting. We've obviously got to get the balance just right. Just to be really clear before we start the conversation, we don't think that offsets are the way to go. Obviously, what you should do is reduce your emissions, so it's not okay to just pollute as much as you like and plant some trees. So, we're very clear that the offsets are for companies that have already reduced their emissions to the point where they can't be reduced any more with current technologies, and therefore some offsetting is necessary.

We are part of the four-nation woodland group at the moment. The Scottish Government provides the secretariat for that. I'm very happy to speak with the Scottish Government, who will have similar problems to us. We certainly do not want to see good agricultural land bought up for this purpose and covered in trees for no good reason. What we want is to make sure that the right tree is planted in the right place on the right land in Wales, and that good agricultural land is continued to be used for food production. So, we will be looking at it. I had a very good meeting with the FUW as well, earlier, about this very point. I'm very aware of how concerned people are about this, so we will continue to monitor it. There isn't an enormous amount of it happening at the moment, but I absolutely do see the possibility for it. So, we will continue to monitor it. I'm also very keen at looking at ways that the Welsh Government can acquire land of that sort for community purposes and for young farmer schemes and so on. I'm very happy to work with you and with others to make sure that we have all of the right protections in place, whilst encouraging the planting of the right tree in the right place by the right people.

The last thing I would like to say is that there is a lot of money available for this. We would very much like to help our farmers lever that money into their farms, again to plant the right tree in the right place for the right purpose. So, it's not that we don't want the money of the trading emissions market; we just want it in the right place and for the right people and to benefit the right communities. So, there's a balance to be found here. I'm very happy to work with you and others across Wales to make sure that we get that right balance—that we both get the benefit of the money that's available and that we use it to the right effect in Wales.