Action needed to unlock industry potential | Policy Conference 2024
9 December 2024
Private investment is crucial to unlock the environmental and economic potential of the forestry and wood industry - but a range of barriers were deterring investors, a forestry analyst told the conference.
Miranda Joicey, of Gresham House, said forestry was “a proven and effective solution to meet government targets” - but “ambition must be backed up by practical political action.”
Importing more than 80% of the wood used in the UK was “unnecessary and unsustainable”, she argued, leaving us “hostage to price volatility and geopolitical influence”.
Ms Joicey said if government policy and regulation encouraged the release of patient, long-term capital, it could deliver many of its economic and environmental ambitions.
The greatest challenge was a lack of certainty created by a range of factors, she argued - fiscal change, ineffective planting approvals, an ineffective carbon standard and poor public perception of productive forestry. “The cumulative impact creates significant headwinds, and the lack of a coherent approach deters further investment and risks undermining forestry’s contribution to the economy, decarbonisation and biodiversity,” she said.
“In the absence of a pragmatic approach, schemes face policy battles on a site-by-site basis.” Gresham House’s experience was that schemes could take 18 months to 3 years to get approval, which was “unacceptable and unworkable”. She called for a clearly-defined and enforced timeframe, alongside a “stronger emphasis on positive messaging to balance the prevailing negative commentary”.
