Study: Almost 60 million trees could go unplanted if Nature for Climate Fund is not renewed

Almost 60 million trees could go unplanted in the next five years if the Nature for Climate Fund is not renewed, a new analysis has today cautioned.   

According to a study of tree planting data by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), more than half of the 20 million trees planted in England since 2020 were delivered through the £750m fund ringfenced by the previous government for woodland creation and peatland restoration. In the year to March 2024, 78 per cent of new woods and trees were funded by the scheme. 

However, the ECIU warned the future of the Nature for Climate Fund could be in doubt ahead of next month's Autumn Budget, as the government has yet to commit to replacing it amid efforts to close the £22bn budget 'black hole' it inherited from the Conservative government.

In the absence of new funding, the think tank warns a targets to create 7,500 hectares of new tree cover in England in 2025, rising to 8,900 hectares in 2030, is highly unlikely to be achieved.

The report calculated that without the extension of the fund or the introduction of new equivalent, as well as the continuation of funding for tree-planting through farming subsidy schemes, almost nine million trees would not be planted in 2025.

Moreover, the report warns tree-planting targets are set to increase towards the end of the decade, rising to over 10 million trees in 2030 with the government required to deliver a cumulative 57 million trees over six years in England. 

A failure to hit woodland targets would mean missing out on greenhouse gas removals of 577,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year by 2030, or a cumulative total of 1.96 million tonnes between 2025 and 2030.

"New woodlands are critical in the fight against climate change," said Tom Lancaster, land, food, and farming analyst at the ECIU. "They absorb and store carbon, helping in the race to net zero emissions, and also help farmers and communities adapt to the impacts of extreme weather by slowing flood waters, shading livestock and reducing air pollution. 

"We are now at a critical point in the effort to expand England's woodlands, as the area created in recent years has steadily increased. Uncertainty now risks stalling that momentum just as farmers and other landowners are thinking about the future."

The ECIU highlights the £750m spent on the Nature for Climate scheme in the five years of last Parliament represented just 0.1 per cent of government departmental expenditure in the single year 2023/24. As such campaigners argue that even with the increase in funding that is needed to meet higher woodland creation targets, it would still represent a tiny fraction of overall expenditure.

However, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is under intense pressure to deliver spending cuts as part of the Treasury's efforts to plug the £22bn budget 'black hole'. Reports have suggested the government's green farming subsidy schemes could be cut by £100m following several years of under-spend, while there are now widespread concerns among environmental groups that other key schemes could be cut. 

These concerns are set against the government's insistence it intends to improve the green farming subsidy regime and meet the many legally-binding nature targets set through the Environment Act. 

Lancaster warned against cutting green farming subsidy schemes, which are designed to help fund a wide range of environmental improvements, including tree-planting. "If we want more of [farmers and land owners] to embrace woods and trees, they will need a strong signal now that the funding will be there to meet the ambitious woodland targets for England over the next five years," he said.

The uncertainty around future funding arrangements comes after the Climate Change Committee (CCC) recently warned that emissions from agriculture and land use need to fall much faster, and that progress on woodland creation must be accelerated before 2030.

"The Nature for Climate Fund has helped get millions of trees in the ground," said Andrew Allen, lead policy advocate at the Woodland Trust. "In projects like the Northern Forest, these trees are helping store thousands of tonnes of carbon a year, creating networks of new habitat for nature and giving hundreds of thousands of people new access to woodland on their doorstep, which is crucial for health and wellbeing.

"The government must not squander the momentum which has been built up. We need to maintain public investment in trees and woods in the coming years if we are to have any chance of tackling the nature and climate crises, including meeting legal targets that the government itself has set."

The government has pledged to launch a new taskforce as it works towards a legal target to plant 16.5 per cent tree cover by 2050.

"Nature is in crisis which is why the government has wasted no time in announcing a rapid review to deliver on our legally binding environment targets," a Defra spokesperson said.

"We will introduce a Tree Planting Taskforce to boost tree-planting, deliver three new National Forests and increase tree canopy and woodland cover across our four nations. Only then can we protect our precious habitats and reach net zero."

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