Lib Dems plan to plant 60 million trees a year

A Liberal Democrat government will plant 60 million trees every year, increasing UK forest cover by 1 million hectares by 2045.

The climate emergency is destroying our natural environment and threatening our children's futures. It's clear that the Conservative Party doesn't take climate change seriously.

Just 13% of the UK is currently covered by woodland, far below the European Union average of 35%.

The Conservatives have woefully failed to meet their own targets for planting trees in the past year. Only 1,420 hectares of trees were planted in England in the year to March 2019, 71% short of the Conservative government's target of 5,000 hectares for the same period.

Liberal Democrats see the climate emergency for what it is: an emergency. That's why we've come up with a radical and ambitious plan to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, and to halve emissions by 2030 compared to today.

Our plan to tackle the climate emergency will involve the largest tree-planting programme in UK history. Planting trees is one of the most viable ways of removing carbon from the atmosphere and is vital for achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Reforesting will have other benefits such as helping reverse our declining biodiversity, reducing air pollution and improving public spaces. It will also increase the use of timber products in construction, which capture carbon and reduce construction emissions.

Only the Liberal Democrats have a radical plan to make a real impact in the fight against climate change and build a brighter future for our planet.

Find out more about our plan to build a brighter future.

EU Forest Cover