ree planting is big. Governments across the UK and beyond have ambitious tree planting targets. The Scottish Government's vision is to expand woodland cover to 21 per cent of Scotland by 2032. Why? Trees soak up carbon, provide shade, a home for biodiversity, green space and timber.

But depending on what our goals are, it’s not always that simple. For example, when we look at how trees interact with soils in the initial decades following tree establishment (timescales relevant to key Scotland/UK net zero target dates of 2045/2050), our research has shown that planting trees on carbon rich soils – that’s soils with lots of organic material in it, such as moorland, which we have a lot of in Scotland’s uplands – could result in an overall release of carbon.