Forest management in Europe needs a long-term, sustainable approach that moves beyond the current focus on short-term profit. A new report from the EFI (European Forest Institute) sets out in detail how carbon farming – a set of agricultural practices that help capture and store carbon dioxide in soil and plants – can best be managed so as to maximise its climate potential and reduce the growing risk of forest fires.
The new EFI report Carbon Farming in The European Forestry Sector (Carbon farming in the European forestry sector) shows how EU forests, which cover 40% of the bloc's land area, can increase their long-term carbon sequestration capacity and help the EU meet its target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
That depends on one crucial factor – giving up practices geared towards short-term profit. Since almost half of Europe's forests are privately owned, forest owners need better incentives to make long-term forest management a priority. By introducing a form of temporary carbon credit that takes account of the temporary nature of carbon storage in natural ecosystems and is re-measured every year, owners could obtain the capital to move away from practices that bring quick financial gains but degrade the environment, such as logging or clearing land of forest.
Tommaso Chiti, professor at the University of Tuscia: “Temporary carbon credits are intended to address a problem that nature-based solutions sometimes face, namely that carbon storage is not permanent, by offering carbon credits for the carbon stored over the course of a single year. Instead of one-off upfront payments, the flexibility and repeatability of temporary carbon credits ensure that the credit accurately reflects the amount of carbon sequestered, increasing trust and transparency among buyers on the carbon market.”
The report recommends that temporarily issued carbon credits should be used as a financial contribution to climate action rather than as an offsetting instrument. It also recommends expanding geospatial monitoring and third-party verification to ensure that carbon credits generated by carbon farming projects genuinely reflect climate benefits.
The report concludes that restoring forests and establishing new ones – afforestation – is the most effective method of storing more carbon over the long term. Diversifying tree species, lengthening harvesting rotations, agroforestry and wetland management are recognised as important methods for countering the effects of unsustainable land-use practices, which have degraded more than 60-70% of Europe's soils.
Dr Ana Rey, of the Spanish Research Council: “Forests are the best natural CO₂ removal technology available to us; in the fight against climate change they are increasingly threatened by fires, drought and storms. At present most of Europe's forests are managed for timber production, and the carbon sequestration benefits are merely an additional short-term gain rather than a means of maintaining long-term health and resilience. Forests must be given the very highest priority, so that they can preserve biodiversity, serve as an important water store and improve air quality for people.”
If the European Union is to make full use of the potential of its forests to capture carbon and reduce climate risks, the report calls on policymakers to review the frameworks for effective carbon farming measures. While the EU supports the use of timber in construction and energy, some national governments are funding measures to reduce timber harvesting. Aligning policy to ensure resilience against climate threats will help the EU achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
Authors:
Tommaso Chiti, University of Tuscia, Italy
Ana Rey, National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN), National Spanish Research Council (CSIC), Spain
Jens Abildtrup, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), France
Hannes Böttcher, Oeko-Institut, Germany
Jurij Diaci, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Oliver Frings, AgroParisTech, France
Aleksi Lehtonen, Natural Resources Institute Finland
Andreas Schindlbacher, Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW), Austria
Miguel A. Zavala, University of Alcalá, Spain