Dr. Karl Richards:

It is reasonably clear for forestry. We need to increase our planting rates. In that context, 80,000 ha is one target. When we plant trees on the right soils, we know that we sequester large amounts of carbon. If we bring those products into our buildings, it sequesters that for long periods also. There is a great deal of research in the context of timber around heights and things like that as regards how we construct buildings.

On peatlands, we know that they are an emissions source but the question is whether they produce 20 tonnes, 10 tonnes or 1 tonne. Over the coming years, we will reach a better understanding of that. We know that if we rewet them, we might stop that 1 tonne or 20 tonnes. We know that rewetting will reduce emissions, but we are unsure of the scale of that. It does not stop us starting to rewet these lands. I do not want the committee to take me up in the wrong way because it is a low-hanging fruit, but we need to ensure that when we do this, we can monitor, report and verify the emissions reductions in order that we can underpin payments to the landowners who are potentially reducing the productivity of their land to capture water and carbon, enhance biodiversity and all of that. We know many of the answers, but we need to ensure that we underpin this with the science that will get landowners the maximum credit, whether it be in the context of carbon or biodiversity, for their actions.