Council exceeds Surrey tree planting target — SkimNews
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Surrey County Council planted 116,359 trees in the 2025/26 financial year alone, pushing the five-year total to approximately 885,000 — surpassing its initial 600,000 target by nearly 48%.
- The authority has committed to 1.2 million trees planted by 2030, equivalent to one tree for every Surrey resident.
- Elmbridge Borough Council passed a motion calling for the future East Surrey council to update its tree strategy to account for survival rates, as many trees planted in the borough were dying within a year.
- Councillor Katerina Lusk said: "There is little point celebrating the number of trees we plant if a significant number of them are dead a year later."
- The council's broader climate change delivery programme is "broadly on track" for its 2030 net zero targets, with carbon emissions reduced by approximately 60%.
- More than 1,438 low-income Surrey households received energy efficiency improvements including insulation, solar panels, and low-carbon heating.
- The council acknowledged the programme was "significantly affected by external market conditions, supply chain constraints and wider economic pressures."
Why it matters: The tree-count headline masks a survival-rate problem Elmbridge councillors flagged: many planted saplings die within a year without aftercare, which could undercut the 1.2-million-by-2030 pledge (one per resident) and the council's broader net zero push. Surrey has still cut carbon emissions roughly 60% and helped over 1,438 low-income households with energy upgrades, but acknowledges supply chain and economic pressures.
Ask SkimNews
