Billion-tree plan to combat climate change

Planting one billion trees could revitalise Australia’s plantation timber industry and combat climate change.

Both Labor and the Coalition say they would change regulations to give plantation timber better ­access to carbon farming schemes. Picture: Keri Megelus

A plan to plant one billion trees could revitalise Australia’s plantation timber industry and drive Direct Action to combat climate change, Australia’s peak timber industry group said.

A billion tree pledge was a key plank of a “Growing a better Australia” road map released by the federal government last week.

Implementing the blueprint would break a decade-long freeze on new plantations and create an estimated 18,000 jobs.

Research for the forest industry said expanded plantations could remove more than 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year by 2030, about 23 per cent of Australia’s Paris Agreement target. Funding plans were not ­included in the plantation industry road map.

Both Labor and the Coalition say they would change regulations to give plantation timber better ­access to carbon farming schemes.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Environment Minister Melissa Price have pledged their support for the Direct Action policies which include the emissions-­reduction fund.

Forest Products Association chief executive Ross Hampton said greater access to carbon funding would help underpin the ­expansion of plantations, even at existing fund prices of about $12 a tonne. Environment groups support expanded tree plantations but want a quicker end to logging in native forests.

Plantation timbers provide softwood for the building industry where about one third of supplies were currently imported.

A resurgent US housing market has led to greater global competition, putting pressure on Australian housing construction costs.