Water companies have pledged to plant 11 million trees across England as part of the goal to make the water industry carbon neutral by 2030.
The Woodland Trust is working with the companies to identify urban and rural sites and manage the planting programme.
Michael Roberts, chief executive of Water UK, said: “Water companies play a unique role in running a vital public service and acting as long-term stewards of our natural environment. The trees they plant today will be a testament in years to come of the sector’s ground-breaking Public Interest Commitment, which goes beyond regulatory compliance and which, with the support of our partners, will deliver real social and environmental progress.”
Plans for the initial 2.5 million trees are in place and locations are being selected for the next phase of planting based on suitability for planting or habitat restoration.
The water companies have committed to deliver the habitat improvement programme, which includes hedgerows and grasslands as well as trees to create biodiverse “nature corridors”.
Land will include some owned by water companies as well by The National Trust, The Wildlife Trust and The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
Many water companies already work with charities for habitat improvement and regional planting programmes, but this initiative will see those local partnerships taken to a national level to help the industry achieves its ambitious plan.
As part of local schemes, United Utilities has already planted around 800,000 trees since 2005 and is committed to a further 440,000 in the next five, mainly in urban environments. Severn Trent has planted more than 500,000 trees since 2015 and intends to plant another 250,000 in the next five years. Anglian Water plans to plant a million trees, hedging plants and shrubs in urban areas, as part of a 25-year initiative.
Richard Flint, chief executive of Yorkshire Water, which is helping to coordinate the project, said: “As an industry, the water sector is committed to fighting climate change through becoming carbon neutral by 2030. Our ambitious pledge announced today will go a long way to meeting that target, and will also deliver greater biodiversity, improved water quality and better flood protection. In recent years water companies in England have made significant contributions towards tackling some of the greatest environmental challenges that we face, and today’s announcement is just the latest example of that commitment to the environment.”
The water companies will join forces with existing initiatives such as the National Forest and Northern Forest as well as with large-scale government planting and habitat improvement programmes. Sir William Worsley, tree champion and chair of the National Forest Company, said: “I welcome this pledge from England’s water companies, who have clearly seen the value in planting trees and acknowledged the vital role they will play in helping us to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
“Trees are carbon sinks, provide crucial habitats for precious wildlife, mitigate flood risk and provide a valuable renewable resource in timber – and I encourage other industries to follow Water UK’s excellent example to ensure we boost planting rates across the country.”
The government’s committee on climate change aims to increase UK woodland coverage from 13 per cent of land to 17 per cent to help meet the target for net zero carbon emissions by 2050.