“Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk” open letter signed by Maria Jose Sanz, Scientific Director of BC3, with other environmental scientists listed at the bottom of the article – BC3 Research

A group of environmental scientists warns that proposed EU forest accounting rules, which would allow policy-driven increases in harvesting to be included in the baseline, could hide up to 400 MtCO2/yr of emissions. They argue that any reduction in the forest sink is effectively a net increase in emissions and that failing to account for this would undermine the credibility of EU bioenergy accounting, contradict the Paris Agreement, and compromise the EU's alignment with IPCC 2°C trajectories.

• The authors argue that from an atmospheric perspective, any reduction in the forest sink is equivalent to a net increase in emissions, regardless of whether forests are managed sustainably.
• Including policy-related increases in harvesting within the forest accounting baseline could hide between 300 MtCO2/yr (relative to a scientific baseline) and 400 MtCO2/yr (relative to current sink services) from EU biomass accounting.
• The scientists claim that ignoring policy-related impacts on land carbon sinks would undermine the credibility of EU bioenergy accounting, as current IPCC and EU frameworks rely on the assumption that carbon emissions from bioenergy are fully reported under the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector.
• The authors state that failing to account for decreased land sinks risks the EU's failure to meet temperature targets and contradicts the Paris Agreement's requirement for parties to conserve and enhance sinks and ensure transparency.

APA

Basque Centre for Climate Change (2017). “Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk” open letter signed by Maria Jose Sanz, Scientific Director of BC3, with other environmental scientists listed at the bottom of the article – BC3 Research. https://www.bc3research.org/en/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-open-letter-signed-by-maria-jose-sanz-scientific-director-of-bc3-with-other-environmental-scientists-listed-at-the-bottom-of-th/

Chicago

Basque Centre for Climate Change. “Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk” open letter signed by Maria Jose Sanz, Scientific Director of BC3, with other environmental scientists listed at the bottom of the article – BC3 Research. 2017. https://www.bc3research.org/en/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-open-letter-signed-by-maria-jose-sanz-scientific-director-of-bc3-with-other-environmental-scientists-listed-at-the-bottom-of-th/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Basque Centre for Climate Change |title=“Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk” open letter signed by Maria Jose Sanz, Scientific Director of BC3, with other environmental scientists listed at the bottom of the article – BC3 Research |date=21 June 2017 |url=https://www.bc3research.org/en/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-open-letter-signed-by-maria-jose-sanz-scientific-director-of-bc3-with-other-environmental-scientists-listed-at-the-bottom-of-th/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{basquecentreforclimatechange2017forest, author = {{Basque Centre for Climate Change}}, title = {{“Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk” open letter signed by Maria Jose Sanz, Scientific Director of BC3, with other environmental scientists listed at the bottom of the article – BC3 Research}}, publisher = {Basque Centre for Climate Change}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://www.bc3research.org/en/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-open-letter-signed-by-maria-jose-sanz-scientific-director-of-bc3-with-other-environmental-scientists-listed-at-the-bottom-of-th/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }