Climate change resources

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Resources relevant to forests and climate change.

General

The National Adaptation Programme Making the country resilient to a changing climate (2013). HM Government.
Environmental Reporting Guidelines: including mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting guidance (2013) Defra, London.
Government forestry and woodlands policy statement, incorporating the Government's response to the Independent Panel on Forestry's final report (2013). Defra, London, and Forestry Commission England, Bristol.
UK Climate Change Risk Assessment: Government Report (2012). HM Government.
The Carbon Plan: delivering our Low Carbon Future (2011). HM Government, London.
Climate change action plan for the Public Forest Estate (2011). Forestry Commission England, Bristol.
The natural choice: securing the value of nature (2011). HM Government.
Woodfuel implementation plan 2011-2014. Forestry Commisison England, Bristol.
Climate change: the UK programme 2006. Department of Energy and Climate Change, London.
UK renewable energy strategy 2009. Department of Energy and Climate Change, London.

Climate change plan 2010. Defra, London.

Delivery mechanisms

Adapting to Climate Change Programme (www.ukcip.org.uk/). The UK government’s Adapting to Climate Change Programme is a cross-government programme, co-ordinated by the Department for Environment, Food and rural Affairs (Defra). The Programme’s key objectives are to:

develop a more robust and comprehensive evidence base about the impacts and consequences of climate change;
raise awareness of the need to take action now and to help others to take action;
work across government at the national, regional and local level to make sure the need to adapt to climate change is embedded into government policies, programmes and systems.

UK low Carbon Transition Plan (Department of Energy and Climate Change). The UK low Carbon Transition Plan plots how the UK will meet the 34% cut in emissions on 1990 levels by 2020. The Plan shows how reductions in the power sector and heavy industry; transport; homes and communities; workplaces and jobs; and farming, land and waste sectors could enable carbon budgets to 2022 to be met.
UK renewables obligation (Department of Energy and Climate Change). The renewables obligation (ro) is the main mechanism for supporting the generation of renewable electricity. Since its introduction, the ro has been subject to various reforms and improvements. The most significant change to date was in April 2009, with the introduction of banding. This provides for different technologies to receive different levels of support, providing a greater incentive for less-developed technologies, including dedicated biomass burning, which have the potential to generate significant amounts of electricity.
Renewable Heat Incentive (Department of Energy and Climate Change). In 2010 heat generated from renewable energy met less than 2% of the UK’s total heat demand. The renewable Heat Incentive (rHI) is expected to come into force in 2011 and will assist towards the adoption of forms of heating such as biomass boilers and stoves which use forest products, together with air-source and ground-source heat pumps, sustainable biogas, biomethane and bioliquids, and solar thermal water heaters. This will help the UK to reach the 2020 renewable heat energy target of 12%.
Woodland Carbon Code (https://woodlandcarboncode.org.uk/). The Woodland Carbon Code sets out the standards for voluntary carbon sequestration projects that incorporate core principles of good carbon management as part of modern sustainable forest management.

Contacts

Forestry

Forestry Commission – www.gov.uk/government/organisations/forestry-commission

Scottish Forestry – https://forestry.gov.scot/

Natural Resources Wales – https://naturalresources.wales/

Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Northern Ireland – www.daera-ni.gov.uk/

Climate change

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – www.gov.uk/

Scottish Government Rural and Environment Directorate – www.gov.scot/