Jeremy Corbyn is proposing to double the requirement in place to tackle the climate crisis

This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

Claim

Jeremy Corbyn has promised to plant 2 billion trees by 2040 to help arrest the climate crisis.

Background

Planting billions of trees across the world is one of the most effective and cheapest ways of taking carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) out of the atmosphere. Through the process of photosynthesis, they absorb and store the carbon dioxide emissions that are driving global heating, making them natural carbon sinks.

Reality

The government has officially committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

The official adviser the Committee on Climate Change says the UK must plant 1.5 billion new trees by 2050 to meet that target, or 50 million a year.

Planting 2 billion trees in the next 20 years would be the equivalent of sowing 100 million a year, so Corbyn’s promise to plant more than that 10 years ahead of the target effectively doubles the requirement.

That is the equivalent of three trees planted every second, day and night.

While this sounds incredible, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility. One man in Northumberland who has launched a private woodland has planted more than 2 million trees in 12 years.

Q&A What is Labour's 'green new deal' Show Hide Labour's 'green new deal' - or 'green industrial revolution' - proposes a massive programme of state investment to rapidly decarbonise the economy, creating hundreds of thousands of green jobs, and transforming the way people live - from upgrading the housing stock to revitalising public transport, tackling the UK’s air pollution crisis to moving towards a more sustainable agricultural model. Although the initial investment would be huge, advocates say that would be dwarfed by the cost of not tackling the escalating climate crisis and point to wide-ranging economic benefits in the medium term, positioning the UK at the forefront of the emerging green industries, which are expected to dominate in the coming years. Crucially, the green new deal would tie radical environmental action to a worker-led “just transition”, where the rapid move from a carbon-based economy to a sustainable system is led by – and benefits – ordinary people. Its advocates say jobs in carbon-intensive industries would be replaced by – among others – those in wind, solar, house building and transport infrastructure. Labour's manifesto put the green new deal at the centre of its 2019 election campaign. The idea has also been championed by leading Democratic presidential candidates in the US 2020 race. Internationally, its supporters say any such proposal must also recognise the west’s historic responsibility for the crisis - and its global nature - and support a just transition in the developing world through transfers of technology and finance, while welcoming migrants. Matthew Taylor

Experts at the Woodland Trust say overshooting the planting target will be necessary given annual losses and threats to existing woodland and hedgerows – including everything from Network Rail clearing trees from sidelines, or the removal of around 5,500 trees from Sheffield by the council.

But, they say, planting trees is not the only requirement. “On one side, you need expansion, but you also need to protect the natural regeneration of trees and woodlands, to stop inappropriate development and to understand more about pests and diseases,” such as the devastating ash dieback which is a danger to 120m trees, said a spokesman for the trust.

It is currently fighting around 1,000 cases of threats to ancient woodland, 108 of these from HS2.

So, it says, expansion must happen not just to increase the number of trees, but also to mitigate losses.

Verdict

The Labour plan is ambitious but not out of sync with expert thinking.