this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2025
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UK Nature and Environment

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Billionaires, aristocrats and private investment funds are scooping up millions of pounds in taxpayer subsidies to plant trees, The i Paper can reveal.

Data released under Freedom of Information requests shows some of the biggest beneficiaries of tree planting subsidies include members of aristocratic families such as the Duke of Sutherland, the Duke of Buccleuch and Lord Dalmeny, whose estates have all received over £500,000 in public subsidies in the past five years.

Foreign billionaires, including Anders Holch Povlsen, the Danish owner of ASOS and Mohammed Mahdi Al Tajir, a businessman and former UAE ambassador to the UK, also own estates that have received similarly large sums.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Never shortage of funds to give to the rich...

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

So, a scheme designed to pay subsidies to tree-planting land-owners is paying subsidies to tree-planting land-owners?

Outrageous!

If there’s real outrage to be had, it’s how much land is owned by how few people.