Posted by dmt210
26 August 2026The UK plans to create 30,000 hectares of new woodland every year to help tackle climate change and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. While planting trees can absorb carbon, it may also reduce the amount of land available for food production. If more food then has to be imported, some of the emissions saved in the UK could simply be shifted overseas, a problem known as “carbon leakage”.
Research led by the University of Exeter explored whether new forms of food production could help avoid this problem. The research focused on recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), a technology that grows seafood in tanks while recycling most of its water, allowing food to be produced on a much smaller land area.
Using a detailed model of land use and food production across Great Britain, it was found that RAS could be economically viable on around 1.6% of farmland and could replace up to 28% of the warm water prawns currently imported into the country. Woodland creation was also found to be financially attractive for farmers. However, converting a small amount of farmland (0.2%) into woodland reduced overall food production by around 0.007%, creating the risk of carbon leakage through increased imports.
Results showed that expanding RAS could fully offset this loss in food production and prevent carbon leakage. The benefits were even greater when RAS facilities were powered by renewable energy from anaerobic digesters. We also found that lower-interest loans made RAS investments more attractive, highlighting the important role that financial institutions can play in supporting climate-friendly food production.
Overall, the findings suggest that combining woodland creation with innovative, land-efficient food production technologies could help the UK meet its climate goals without increasing emissions elsewhere in the world.
The full citation for this research is:
Morello, T., Gadanakis, Y., Campos-González, J., Mancini, M., Howe, K., Tingley, D., Manchi, R., Sanders, T., Wilson, R. and Bateman, I.J. (2025) Sequestering carbon without reducing food production: The role of recirculating aquaculture systems. Ecological Economics, 237, 108692. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108692