Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk

The document is an open letter from environmental scientists warning that proposed EU forest accounting rules could allow member states to hide the impact of policies that increase net emissions. The authors argue that including policy-driven harvest increases in the 'Forest Reference Level' baseline would effectively mask up to 400 MtCO2/yr of emissions, undermining the EU's 2030 climate targets, the credibility of bioenergy accounting, and the spirit of the Paris Agreement.

• EU forests currently act as a net carbon sink, removing more than 400 Mt CO2 annually, which is equivalent to 10% of the EU's total greenhouse gas emissions.
• The authors oppose proposals by some EU member states to include increased harvesting in the forest baseline, as this would treat a reduction in the forest sink as something that should not be penalised, effectively hiding the resulting increase in atmospheric CO2.
• Including policy-related harvest increases in the baseline could hide up to 400 MtCO2/yr compared to current sink services, or up to 300 MtCO2/yr relative to a scientific baseline, a figure the authors note is up to two thirds of France's annual emissions.
• Failure to use a scientifically objective accounting method would compromise the EU's bioenergy accounting, as current IPCC and EU legislation rely on the assumption that carbon emissions from bioenergy are fully accounted for under the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector.
• The authors warn that ignoring policy-driven impacts on land carbon sinks would risk the EU's failure to meet its -40% GHG reduction target by 2030 and set a dangerous international precedent that could undermine the Paris Agreement's goals for conserving and enhancing sinks.

APA

House, J. I., Bäck, J. K., Bellassen, V., Böttcher, H., Chivian, E., Canadell, P., Ciais, P., Duffy, P. B., Federici, S., Harris, N., Herold, M., Hildén, M., Houghton, R. A., Kalliokoski, T., Kotiaho, J. S., Lee, D., Lindroth, A., Liski, J., Mackey, B., ... Zarin, D. (2017). Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk. Basque Centre for Climate Change. https://www.bc3research.org/es/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-articulo-de-opinion-firmado-por-maria-jose-sanz-directora-cientifica-de-bc3-junto-con-otros-cientificos-ambientales-que-se-list/

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/es/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-articulo-de-opinion-firmado-por-maria-jose-sanz-directora-cientifica-de-bc3-junto-con-otros-cientificos-ambientales-que-se-list/.

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/es/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-articulo-de-opinion-firmado-por-maria-jose-sanz-directora-cientifica-de-bc3-junto-con-otros-cientificos-ambientales-que-se-list/ |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 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/es/2017/06/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk-articulo-de-opinion-firmado-por-maria-jose-sanz-directora-cientifica-de-bc3-junto-con-otros-cientificos-ambientales-que-se-list/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }