Land reform campaigners have opposed the claims that Scotland would have to depend on multimillionaires who are spending up to £2bn on new forests and peatlands to rescue the country from the climate crisis.
An analysis by Community Land Scotland accused NatureScot, the conservation agency, of using crude and unsubstantiated figures to call for a big increase in private funding to reforest the Highlands and uplands.
One study estimated that the cost of restoring all Scotland’s damaged peatlands, which release carbon as they dry out and degrade, was between £3bn and £4bn over the next 10 years. NatureScot had only been given £250m to do so. Scotland was also far off hitting a target to plant 20,000 hectares of new woodland every year.
Recall that NatureScot and the Scottish Greens minister Lorna Slater announced in March that they had signed a deal with private financiers to leverage up to £2bn in loans over the next decade to help fund an expansion in new forestry and peatland restoration. They argued that investment could plant 185,000 hectares (457,000 acres) of woodland to store about 28m tonnes of CO2 over the next 30 years – a figure equivalent to half Scotland’s annual CO2 emissions.
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The deal is expected to involve a small private bank in Edinburgh and two investment firms, Palladium and Lombard Odier, which hope to profit from their loans by selling carbon credits based on the carbon sequestrated by the new woodlands and restored peatland.
The private bank, Hampden, said that it was unlikely to reveal the identities of its clients who invest in these funds. The memorandum of understanding it signed with NatureScot has detailed clauses requiring secrecy on the projects’ finances.
According to reports, NatureScot officials are adamant these investments will be carefully designed, in collaboration with local people, in consultation with the land reform agency the Scottish Land Commission, and in strict accordance with a charter on “high integrity” carbon investments released by the Scottish government.
Brendan Turvey, NatureScot’s low carbon manager, said the scale of the challenge to fund the peatland and woodland restoration was so great it was akin to “a national emergency”.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
