Politics is concerned with balancing competing objectives. Over the past few decades, forestry objectives have shifted from prioritising timber production to a broader emphasis on biodiversity and carbon capture. Across all UK nations, policy has aimed to increase the area of woodland planted as part of long-term land-use change objectives. While all three goals might be expected to bring benefits through additional planting, this has not necessarily been the case:

• Overall, tree planting targets have not been achieved.

• Since the 1990s, funding has increasingly prioritised the planting of broadleaved trees, which may negatively impact the rate and volume of carbon capture, which can be higher in conifers.

• The reduced support for planting conifers threatens the UK timber industry, increasing reliance on imports at a time of global instability.

Planting performance

While UK woodland creation achieved a recent high in the year to 31 March 2024, it was still roughly half of that achieved in the early 1970s, and similar to 1980s levels (figure 4). Planting fell from even this modest achievement in the year to 31 March 2025, despite ambitious targets to increase forest area (figure 5).

The fall in new planting across the UK (figure 5) was entirely due to the reduction in Scotland, following the Scottish Government’s decision to reduce the woodland creation budget by 40%, and the slow transition of projects through the approval process, meaning some schemes will fall into subsequent years.

The targets

Woodland area is not just a function of new planting but felling, restocking and loss. Timber production also depends on factors such as species choice, stocking density and site characteristics. In addition, there is scope to use different definitions of woodland. The Forestry Commission defines woodland as meeting all of the following: a minimum area of 0.5 hectares, a minimum width of 20m and a potential tree canopy cover of at least 20%. A canopy of 20% could require only 100 stems per hectare, depending on species. In contrast, the Defra England Woodland Creation Offer funds areas as small as 0.1 hectares.

The targets differ between countries within the UK. The English legislation “The Environmental Targets (Woodland and Trees Outside Woodland) (England) Regulations 2023” illustrates the complexity of interpretation. The act simply states “by the end of 31 December 2050, at least 16.5% of all land in England is covered by woodland and trees outside woodland”. This 16.5% includes single trees and hedgerow trees as well as areas more conventionally accepted as woodland.

On 1 December 2025, DEFRA expanded on the intention. The guidance provides an interim target of an additional 43,000 hectares between 2022 and 2030, followed by a further cumulative 167,000 hectares to 2050. Added to the 2020 woodland area of a little over 1.3 million hectares, this achieves the 16.5% target, if applied to the area of land on agricultural holdings (rather than all land in England).

210,000 hectares is an ambitious target and roughly equivalent to the 2025 area of oilseed rape in England. To assist in this, the Forestry Commission claims to have identified 2.9 million hectares of low-sensitivity land suitable for woodland creation. This excludes areas that are less appropriate for afforestation, such as the best and most versatile agricultural land, designated landscapes (including all National Parks and National Landscapes) and land with other environmental sensitivities.

The targets for England allow for loss through disease and loss to non-agricultural development. Both are difficult to predict, particularly given the recent introduction of new diseases and climate change. The targets appear to assume that restocking is maintained at the current rates, but do not particularly account for the species being restocked.

Each of the UK countries has its own targets to increase planting, although there is a central and unenforceable UK target to increase woodland area by an ambitious – and somewhat unrealistic – 30,000 hectares per year.

Carbon and biodiversity

The stated objective is to reach the net zero target by 2050. While biological capture in trees or soil organic matter has a role to play, in the main, its capture is finite; mature forests store substantial carbon, but once fully mature, its gains and losses will largely balance out. Fast-growing softwoods (such as conifers) capture carbon more quickly than hardwoods (slower-growing broadleaves). Softwoods reach maturity sooner and, although gains eventually become small, when harvested and used in construction, much of that carbon remains locked away and replanting enables further capture.

The purpose of tree planting is to maximise tree growth and thus carbon capture. While trees also have a biodiversity role, there must be active management of the two different objectives. In non-commercial areas, the main market can become firewood, which leads to the emission of highly damaging particulates.

Commercial forestry is declining across the UK

According to the Forestry Commission, UK forestry supplies around 27% of domestic timber requirements and relies on imports of largely sawn timber to maintain supplies for building and other purposes. Looking ahead, woodland and other biological materials appear likely to be important in the supply of new raw materials. With the apparent fracture of the global economy, reliance on imports looks likely to be unreliable.

Despite a recovery in the area of trees planted, the current choice of species, location of planting and management of trees is leading to a reduction in commercially productive woodland. Commercial production could be maintained partly by increasing planting grants for conifers in appropriate areas.

There is a risk that the productive area of woodland across the UK is being lost faster than it is being replaced (figure 7). While the area harvested is not quoted, Savills Research indicates that, on average, less than 50% of the felled area is restocked with conifers, making the decline in timber species even greater than it appears. The overwhelming point is that the main source of timber is conifers, but the percentage of conifers felled is consistently higher than the percentage restocked and replanted. This does little to maintain the suitable area needed for commercial timber production.

In addition, new planting is unlikely to take place in areas served by existing sawmills and processors, making production expensive.

If action is not taken, not only is the opportunity to maximise carbon capture lost, but in the longer term, the commercial timber industry is jeopardised.

Why has planting shifted away from commercial timber plantations?

• Grant schemes reward broadleaf planting and environmental benefits.

• Grant schemes do not enforce maximisation of timber production.

• Certification requirements, while essential for market access, can add layers of complexity and cost, particularly for smaller growers.

• The high grant levels encourage planting by non-foresters who usually have less interest in timber production.

• Available land for new planting is not always close to timber markets, which tend to be near the current productive timber resources.

• Rapid growth since 2019 offers new opportunities, but carbon projects require broadleaf or mixed woodlands rather than large-scale conifer plantations.

• The carbon market allows the sale of pending issuance units, which are an estimate of the carbon captured over the life of the tree so fails to recognise the benefits of commercial conifers, including their rate of capture, the use of the timber post-harvest, and the ability to capture more where tree replacement is faster.

• Timber prices surged to record highs in 2022, but have since softened, with real-term prices (indexed from 2021) now back to 2016 levels.

• Timber price volatility makes long-term investment harder.

• Competition for land from agriculture, development and renewable energy further constrains tree planting.

_{Read the articles within The Forestry Market – 2026 below.}