with David Waters, FUW’S Carmarthenshire County Executive Officer

IN THE coming weeks attention will no doubt be returning to climate change as Cop27 is knocking on our door.

In order to limit global warming to 1.5ºc above pre-industrial levels, countries and companies across the world have been racing to pledge their own net-zero targets.

Consequently, an increasing number of farms in Wales are being purchased by companies in order to plant trees and offset their own emissions, or sell the associated carbon credits in the future.

Farmers are also under pressure to achieve net zero in their own businesses, as well as increase tree cover for biodiversity and carbon sequestration reasons.

We have always been clear on this issue though – offsetting must complement, not replace, lowering emissions, otherwise schemes provide companies with a licence to pollute. Welsh farmland must not become a dumping ground for other industries.

There is a very real concern that with a booming voluntary carbon market, companies and private individuals are seeking to acquire land to either afforest for their own carbon offsetting, or invest in land assets as a way to capitalise on the future carbon market.

The Welsh Government and the Senedd should take urgent action to tackle this issue through some form of control mechanism. The UK Government must also ensure that the UK Emissions Trading Scheme continues to tackle emissions at the source.

Carbon offsetting places additional demand on land, while land also needs to produce food for a growing global population, provide housing, generate energy, increase wildlife habitat and maintain current carbon stores. Therefore it is important to ensure that existing carbon stores on farms are enhanced to both protect them and improve their sequestration potential, such as heathlands, hedgerows and soil organic carbon.

This enables multiple land uses and benefits.

Furthermore, sales of carbon credits from farmland must not undermine the ability of farm businesses to become net zero themselves in future.