European forests can no longer be relied on: EU climate goals are at risk
31 July 08:19
European forests are losing their ability to absorb carbon dioxide due to increased logging, forest fires, droughts, and the spread of pests. This poses a threat to the European Union’s ability to meet its emissions reduction targets, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports citing Reuters.
The EU has committed itself to achieving zero emissions by 2050. This goal, among other things, assumes that forests will absorb hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 emissions and store them in trees and soil, thus offsetting pollution from industry.
However, these calculations have now been called into question. According to a study conducted by researchers from the EU’s Joint Research Center, the organization’s independent research service, the average annual amount of CO2 that European forests removed from the atmosphere in 2020-2022 was almost a third less than in the period 2010-2014.
According to a study published in the journal Nature, forests absorbed about 332 million net tons of CO2 equivalent per year in the latter period. Recent data from EU countries indicate an even more rapid decline in this figure.
“This trend, combined with the declining climate resilience of European forests, indicates that the EU’s climate goals, which rely on increased carbon sequestration, may be at risk,”
– the authors of the study note.
Currently, Europe’s land and forestry sectors offset about 6% of the EU’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. This is 2% less than the amount that the EU estimates is needed to achieve its climate goals. This gap is expected to widen by 2030.
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Agustín Rubio Sánchez, professor of ecology and soil science at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, called it “wishful thinking” to rely on forests to achieve climate goals.
“Forests can help, but they should not be assigned specific amounts to balance carbon budgets,”
– he told Reuters.
The study’s findings pose a political challenge for EU governments as they negotiate a new legally binding climate goal for 2040. It involves using forests to offset pollution that industry cannot eliminate.
Some are already warning that this is not possible at all.
“What do we do when there are factors that we as countries, as governments, cannot control to a large extent, such as forest fires or drought?”
– said Romina Pourmohtari, Minister of the Environment of Sweden.
Excessive deforestation, climate change-induced forest fires and droughts, and pest outbreaks all deplete the ability of forests to store carbon.
At the same time, some of these risks can be controlled – for example, by reducing intensive logging or planting more diverse tree species, which can improve CO2 storage and help forests withstand climate extremes and pests, the study authors note.
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