Committee on Climate Change

Emissions from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities are made up almost entirely of emissions from converting forest or pasture land to other uses (i.e. for arable crops or developments).

These emissions, which arise from the release of carbon stored in soils and biomass, are largely offset by land converted to forestry and grassland. On a net basis, the LULUCF sector absorbed 4 MtCO₂e in 2009.

From 2013 onwards, LULUCF is forecast to revert to a net emitter due to the decline in the historical forest planting rate.

There are several options for reducing emissions from LULUCF activities

• Afforestation, or increasing the number of trees, which removes and stores carbon from the atmosphere.
• Agriculture and other land management practices to sequester carbon in soils (e.g. application of crop residues, manures and biosolids to soils, reduced tillage activity, use of biochar).
• Peat restoration and reducing the horticultural use of peat.

Analysis by the Forestry Commission suggests that there is scope for cost-effective abatement potential by 2030 through planting more trees (1 MtCO₂e). Given long lead-times for a forest to deliver emissions reduction, encouraging abatement from afforestation will require a planned rather than reactive approach.