Council expresses its concern about the purchase of family farms in Powys and the wider region by multinational companies to plant trees for the purpose of creating ‘carbon credits’ which are sold to polluting companies to meet their carbon offset targets.
While accepting that tree planting on a large scale is recognised as one means of combating climate change, Council regrets that carbon offsetting allows these high carbon-emitting companies to continue with their unsustainable conduct.
Furthermore, Council notes that multinational companies have already claimed over £1.3m from Welsh Government funding via the Glastir Woodland Creation fund, which means that Welsh taxpayers are subsidising the carbon offsetting programmes of companies from outside Wales.
Council supports the principle of responsible afforestation but believes this must be done in consultation with local communities, and should not have a detrimental impact on local employment, culture and community viability.
Council calls on the Welsh Government to
· Ensure that multinational companies who purchase farms to plant trees for the purpose of creating ‘carbon credits’ which are sold to polluting companies to meet their carbon offset targets are not subsidised by Welsh taxpayers.
· Introduce planning development legislation to enable local planning authorities such as Powys to control afforestation projects, and to set a limit on the proportion of land on any farm that can be used for afforestation without the need for planning consent
· Deliver its afforestation plans by developing a publicly owned arms-length company to manage Wales’ forestry and help reach the Welsh Government’s carbon reduction targets
Council recognises the opinion of environmental campaigners that tree planting is not a silver bullet to averting climate change and agrees that only rapid reduction of burning fossil fuels can halt the ongoing and alarming rise in global temperatures.
Proposed by Cllr Elwyn Vaughan
Seconded by Cllr Bryn Davies
S151 Officer comments on cost implications There will not be any financial consequence from the proposed motion as it only requests that there is correspondence with Welsh Government about the position set out above. There are no further actions nor costs expected.
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Minutes:
The Vice-Chair County Councillor Gareth Ratcliffe took the Chair for this item.
The Monitoring Officer reminded Council that the Standards Committee had granted a dispensation for Members with an interest to speak but not to vote on this item. The following members declared an interest: County Councillors R Powell, D Price, L Corfield, Stephen Hayes, G Jones, A Davies, J Wilkinson, MJ Jones, A Jones, W Powell, E Roderick, P Lewis, R Harris, D Thomas, D Evans, K Curry, R Williams, K Silk, E Vaughan, E Jones, K Laurie-Parry, D Davies, G Pugh, J Morris, K Lewis, J Berriman, D Jones-Poston, D Rowlands, J Jones, B Davies, G Thomas and L George.
Council debated the motion moved by County Councillor Elwyn Vaughan and seconded by County Councillor Bryn Davies:
Council expresses its concern about the purchase of family farms in Powys and the wider region by multinational companies to plant trees for the purpose of creating ‘carbon credits’ which are sold to polluting companies to meet their carbon offset targets.
While accepting that tree planting on a large scale is recognised as one means of combating climate change, Council regrets that carbon offsetting allows these high carbon-emitting companies to continue with their unsustainable conduct.
Furthermore, Council notes that multinational companies have already claimed over £1.3m from Welsh Government funding via the Glastir Woodland Creation fund, which means that Welsh taxpayers are subsidising the carbon offsetting programmes of companies from outside Wales.
Council supports the principle of responsible afforestation but believes this must be done in consultation with local communities, and should not have a detrimental impact on local employment, culture and community viability.
Council calls on the Welsh Government to
· Ensure that multinational companies who purchase farms to plant trees for the purpose of creating ‘carbon credits’ which are sold to polluting companies to meet their carbon offset targets are not subsidised by Welsh taxpayers.
· Introduce planning development legislation to enable local planning authorities such as Powys to control afforestation projects, and to set a limit on the proportion of land on any farm that can be used for afforestation without the need for planning consent.
· Deliver its afforestation plans by developing a publicly owned arms-length company to manage Wales’ forestry and help reach the Welsh Government’s carbon reduction targets.
Council recognises the opinion of environmental campaigners that tree planting is not a silver bullet to averting climate change and agrees that only rapid reduction of burning fossil fuels can halt the ongoing and alarming rise in global temperatures.
In moving the motion County Councillor Elwyn Vaughan advised that he was not against the planting of trees but was opposed to greenwashing by large corporations and the loss of farmland to monoculture. The seconder of the motion, County Councillor Bryn Davies, noted that payments designed to support local food production and rural businesses were being taken by multinational companies from abroad exploiting land in Powys. A number of speakers expressed concern that bullet points two and three would be too burdensome. The proposer and seconder indicated that they were prepared to withdraw bullet point three but not bullet point two. Council voted on the amended motion and by by 22 votes to 2 with 1 amendment it was
RESOLVED that Council expresses its concern about the purchase of family farms in Powys and the wider region by multinational companies to plant trees for the purpose of creating ‘carbon credits’ which are sold to polluting companies to meet their carbon offset targets.
While accepting that tree planting on a large scale is recognised as one means of combating climate change, Council regrets that carbon offsetting allows these high carbon-emitting companies to continue with their unsustainable conduct.
Furthermore, Council notes that multinational companies have already claimed over £1.3m from Welsh Government funding via the Glastir Woodland Creation fund, which means that Welsh taxpayers are subsidising the carbon offsetting programmes of companies from outside Wales.
Council supports the principle of responsible afforestation but believes this must be done in consultation with local communities, and should not have a detrimental impact on local employment, culture and community viability.
Council calls on the Welsh Government to
· Ensure that multinational companies who purchase farms to plant trees for the purpose of creating ‘carbon credits’ which are sold to polluting companies to meet their carbon offset targets are not subsidised by Welsh taxpayers.
Council recognises the opinion of environmental campaigners that tree planting is not a silver bullet to averting climate change and agrees that only rapid reduction of burning fossil fuels can halt the ongoing and alarming rise in global temperatures.
County Councillors A Jenner, G, Breeze, L Fitzpatrick, and B Davies left at 15.45.
County Councillor L Skilton left at 15.58.
County Councillor G Thomas took the Chair again.