Open letter sent to EU Commissioner for climate & energy Cañete, MEP Norbert Lins (LULUCF rapporteur in parliament) and Dr Herrera (Malta Presidency)

The EU is developing post-2020 LULUCF accounting rules that will likely influence global standards. The author warns that the EU's carbon sink is projected to decline by nearly 100MT by 2030, largely due to increased harvesting for bioenergy. The letter emphasizes that failing to accurately count these sink reductions, while simultaneously granting bioenergy a 'zero emissions' rating, would result in emissions being omitted from accounting entirely.

• The EU's post-2020 LULUCF accounting rules are expected to have international significance as the EU is the first region to update these rules after the Paris Agreement, potentially influencing other countries' approaches.
• European Commission data indicates the EU's carbon sink will decrease in coming decades, with a projected reduction in the forestry sink of nearly 100MT by 2030, driven partly by higher bioenergy demand.
• There is a risk of 'cheating the climate' if LULUCF regulations do not accurately account for forest sink decreases, because bioenergy is already rated as 'zero emissions' when burnt on the assumption that emissions are accounted for at the point of harvest.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2017). Open letter sent to EU Commissioner for climate & energy Cañete, MEP Norbert Lins (LULUCF rapporteur in parliament) and Dr Herrera (Malta Presidency). https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-eu-lulucf-rules-will-set-an-international-precedent/

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Open letter sent to EU Commissioner for climate & energy Cañete, MEP Norbert Lins (LULUCF rapporteur in parliament) and Dr Herrera (Malta Presidency). 2017. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-eu-lulucf-rules-will-set-an-international-precedent/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Open letter sent to EU Commissioner for climate & energy Cañete, MEP Norbert Lins (LULUCF rapporteur in parliament) and Dr Herrera (Malta Presidency) |date=18 May 2017 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-eu-lulucf-rules-will-set-an-international-precedent/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{carbonmarketwatch2017open, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Open letter sent to EU Commissioner for climate \& energy Cañete, MEP Norbert Lins (LULUCF rapporteur in parliament) and Dr Herrera (Malta Presidency)}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2017}, month = may, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-eu-lulucf-rules-will-set-an-international-precedent/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }