Change how we use land, says new climate change report: our response

Change how we use land, says new climate change report: our response - CPRE

A report released by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) calls for fundamental changes to land use in order to address the climate crisis – and we at CPRE agree.

The CCC, an independent body set up to advise the government around the climate emergency, has been assessing different ways that land is used and the impact that this might have on our climate.

Its findings are clear: the current UK target for net-zero carbon emissions can’t be met unless we make big changes to land use.

The report suggests various ways that the way we use land (which can include farming and land management) can be adjusted to lower carbon emissions and, even more than that, actually increase the ability of land to actually lock carbon away. These proposals include planting more trees (including on farmland), increasing the areas covered by forests and therefore increasing the number of trees that can capture carbon, and restoring peatlands – an area on which CPRE has long been active.

You can read more about our work considering land use in our report, Landlines: why we need a strategic approach to land and our thinking about the need for peatland to be restored – also called for in the CCC report – in our Back to the land: rethinking our approach to soil proposals.