Dire warnings over carbon forests' impact

If the policy was left unchanged, pine trees could swamp farmland and climate change policy, officials warned. (Image: Getty)

Ian Llewellyn

Mon, 12 Dec 2022

Ministers were warned that leaving policy settings unchanged would make planting permanent carbon forests so lucrative that they would crowd out large areas of farmland and threaten attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.Following the advice, the cabinet left the policy unchanged with work to continue on new options to be put in place in 2025.A recently released regulatory impact statement on forestry and the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) said current settings heavily incentivise planting pine trees and then walking away from them.Ministr...

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