Scotland would have to plant several hundred thousand hectares of new woodland to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the livestock sector by 2050 through afforestation alone, a new study has shown. The study by The James Hutton Institute, which was recently published in the journal Science of The Total Environment, investigated how multi-functional afforestation and livestock reduction could contribute to helping Scotland achieve net-zero emissions in the livestock sector by 2050. This goal aligns with the Paris Agreement on climate change. Researchers have simulated a scenario in which approximately 30,000ha per year of new woodland and agroforestry were planted in Scotland between 2020 and 2025. …It is often assumed such planting can only occur at the expense of grazing area, so the researchers coupled this planting effort with a linear decrease in livestock, with an estimated total reduction of approximately 50% of the present herd numbers.