In December 2019, the European Commission came up with the “European Green Deal”. The goal there is a climate-neutral Europe in 2050.
– The EU’s green grant places great emphasis on preserving environmental values and increasing the forest’s contribution to efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
This is what senior adviser Knut Øistad at NIBIO in Ås says. He is one of the authors behind a new report from NIBIO.
The report provides an overall assessment of the development in the EU’s forest and land policy. It also provides the status of strategies and regulations from the EU’s green grant that are significant for Norwegian forestry.
– We will experience the effects of the EU’s green gift in a number of areas. Some examples are how we book emissions and absorption of CO2 in the forestry and land use sector, says Øistad.
Other examples are which criteria for sustainability will apply when extracting biomass for energy, as well as criteria for sustainable forestry in the case of investments.
The forest is important for the green shift in the EU and Norway
The EU’s green offer has been followed up with a number of strategies and regulations covering all sectors.
Norway is part of the EU’s internal market through the EEA Agreement. We also have a bilateral cooperation agreement with the EU on the implementation of the climate goals in the Paris Agreement. The cooperation means that the EU’s climate regulations are also Norwegian regulations.
The EU’s green deal
The European Green Deal is a strategy for green growth that will ensure a more sustainable and competitive Europe. Read more on the Norwegian Environment Agency’s website.
NIBIO participates in several research projects on the effects of the EU’s green grant on forestry and land use in Norway. Some examples are the DEAL and Climaland projects.
At the beginning of April 2024, the EEA Committee delivered a report on Norway’s experience with the EEA Agreement and other agreements with the EU (EEA cooperation) over the past ten years. In this connection, NIBIO was commissioned to investigate the relationship between the EU and precisely the management of Norwegian forests.
– The EU has no common forest policy. Formally, this is the responsibility of the member states, says Øistad.
Together with his colleagues Christian Mohr and Katharina Hobrak, he has looked at what the EU’s green grant means for Norwegian forest policy and forest management. Primarily, this is about strategies and regulations for renewable energy, environment and climate.
– Most of the regulations have recently been adopted in the EU. We are trying to settle the status and discuss some effects of what is to come.
– When the details of the legal acts, the plans for implementation and Norway’s obligations for the various regulations are closer to being clarified, the effects will become clearer. But the direction of the changes in the EU is clear: More emphasis must be placed on preserving environmental values and increasing the forest’s contribution in the work to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, says Øistad.
The EU influences Norwegian forest policy
Øistad says that a number of regulations that follow from the EU’s green deal are EEA-relevant. They will become Norwegian regulations. What does not become legislation in Norway can nevertheless influence politics and consumer behavior in our local areas.
And although the EU does not have a common forest policy, the EU has nevertheless placed greater focus on the importance of forests for energy, the environment and climate, among other things.
What is LULUCF?
LULUCF stands for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry. It is a system for calculating emissions and uptake of greenhouse gases in forest and agricultural areas. The system is linked to the UN climate panel.
Source: Norwegian Forest Owners’ Association
– Regulations in these areas have come one after the other. Many are included in the EEA agreement or are part of the bilateral cooperation between Norway and the EU. The EU therefore influences forest policy in member states and in Norway via other sectors, says Øistad.
The report contains assessments of the consequences for Norway, among other things, for the climate regulations for the forest and land use sector (LULUCF), sustainable finance, sustainability criteria for renewable energy, regulations for deforestation-free supply chains and certification of carbon capture and storage.
What does the EEA agreement mean for the forest sector? What does increased community policy and member states’ responsibility for forest policy mean? Such questions are also discussed in the report.
– The EU’s green contribution represents a significant overall influence on forest policy. A particular challenge is that the change takes place horizontally in the development of regulations in several sectors at the same time. The direction of the changes is clear. There will be increased emphasis on preserving environmental values, as well as increased contributions from the forest in the work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, says Øistad.
Reference:
Knut Øistad et al.: The EU’s green contribution and the forest. NIBIO report2024.
