Climate Change and the National Forest Estate

Consultation on forestry provisions in the Scottish Climate Change Bill

In principle we welcome the fresh look at how the FCS can deliver for climate change but we are particularly uncomfortable, as we have highlighted before1, with woodland creation for carbon sequestration becoming the primary driver for the government and the National Forest Estate (NFE). LINK has repeatedly expressed its view that the best way to respond to climate change is to first reduce green house gas emissions by moving away from carbon based energy production, reducing energy consumption and energy loss. We see carbon sequestration as one of the secondary responses that feature further down the list of the multiple benefits forestry can provide…