Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk

A group of environmental scientists warns that proposed EU forest accounting rules, which would allow increased harvesting to be included in the baseline, could hide up to 400 MtCO2/yr of emissions. They argue this approach undermines the credibility of bioenergy accounting, contradicts the Paris Agreement, and risks failure to meet the IPCC 2°C trajectory. The authors advocate for a robust baseline based on historical data and forest dynamics to ensure transparency and climate credibility.

• The authors argue that any reduction in the forest sink is effectively equivalent to a net increase in emissions from an atmospheric perspective, regardless of whether forests are managed "sustainably".
• Including policy-driven increases in harvesting within the forest baseline could conceal significant amounts of carbon emissions: up to 400 MtCO2/yr compared to current sink services, or up to 300 MtCO2/yr relative to a scientific baseline.
• The scientists identify four primary risks of ignoring or discounting policy-related impacts on land carbon sinks: it would hamper the credibility of bioenergy accounting, compromise consistency with IPCC 2°C trajectories, contradict the transparency spirit of the Paris Agreement, and set a negative international precedent for other countries setting deforestation reference levels.

APA

House, J. I., Bäck, J. K., Bellassen, V., Böttcher, H., Chivian, E., Canadell, P., Ciais, P., Duffy, P. B., Federici, S., Friedlingstein, P., Goetz, S., Harris, N., Herold, M., Hildén, M., Houghton, R. A., Kalliokoski, T., Kotiaho, J. S., Lee, D., Lindroth, A., ... Zarin, D. (2017). Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk. Basque Centre for Climate Change. https://www.bc3research.org/eu/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-bc3-ko-zientzia-zuzendaria-den-maria-jose-sanz-ek-sinatutako-eritzi-artikulua-behean-aipatzen-diren-beste-ingurugiro-zientzilari/

Chicago

House, Joanna I, Jaana K Bäck, Valentin Bellassen, Hannes Böttcher, Eric Chivian, Pep Canadell, Philippe Ciais, et al. Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk. Basque Centre for Climate Change, 2017. https://www.bc3research.org/eu/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-bc3-ko-zientzia-zuzendaria-den-maria-jose-sanz-ek-sinatutako-eritzi-artikulua-behean-aipatzen-diren-beste-ingurugiro-zientzilari/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=House |first1=Joanna I |last2=Bäck |first2=Jaana K |last3=Bellassen |first3=Valentin |last4=Böttcher |first4=Hannes |last5=Chivian |first5=Eric |last6=Canadell |first6=Pep |last7=Ciais |first7=Philippe |last8=Duffy |first8=Philip B. |last9=Federici |first9=Sandro |display-authors=etal |title=Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk |publisher=Basque Centre for Climate Change |date=21 June 2017 |url=https://www.bc3research.org/eu/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-bc3-ko-zientzia-zuzendaria-den-maria-jose-sanz-ek-sinatutako-eritzi-artikulua-behean-aipatzen-diren-beste-ingurugiro-zientzilari/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{house2017forest, author = {House, Joanna I and Bäck, Jaana K and Bellassen, Valentin and Böttcher, Hannes and Chivian, Eric and Canadell, Pep and Ciais, Philippe and Duffy, Philip B. and Federici, Sandro and Friedlingstein, Pierre and Goetz, Scott and Harris, Nancy and Herold, Martin and Hildén, Mikael and Houghton, Richard A. and Kalliokoski, Tuomo and Kotiaho, Janne S. and Lee, Donna and Lindroth, Anders and Liski, Jari and Mackey, Brendan and McCarthy, James J. and Moomaw, William R. and Tahvanainen, Teemu and Tahvonen, Olli and Pausitan, Keith and Prentice, Colin and Ravindranath, N H and Saikku, Laura and Sanchez, Maria J and Soimakallio, Sampo and Somogyi, Zoltan and Smith, Benjamin and Smith, Pete and Tubiello, Francesco N. and Vesala, Timo and Waterworth, Robert and Woods, Jeremy and Zarin, Dan}, title = {{Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk}}, publisher = {Basque Centre for Climate Change}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://www.bc3research.org/eu/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-bc3-ko-zientzia-zuzendaria-den-maria-jose-sanz-ek-sinatutako-eritzi-artikulua-behean-aipatzen-diren-beste-ingurugiro-zientzilari/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }