Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 2:12 pm on 6 October 2021.
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.