Summary/Abstract
This paper focuses on the role of forests and other land use in the EU climate policy framework. In 2014, EU inclusion of LULUCF (Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry) in the climate policy framework lagged international developments, remaining at odds even with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Kyoto framework. Though the EU has made some important changes that eclipse even the UNFCCC framework—in particular regarding the inclusion of cropland and grazing land management in mandatory EU-level carbon accounting practices—in other respects the EU has far to go. However, limiting the incorporation of forests in the climate policy framework has significant consequences for the cost and rapidity of emission reductions. Forest potential thus remains under-mobilized for climate change mitigation. In this context, the paper draws particular attention to the fact that forest-based carbon sequestration’s potential contribution to negative emissions represents an important missed opportunity. The paper proposes an all-encompassing LULUCF carbon accounting model incorporating all previously omitted carbon pools and activities, thus weighing LULUCF removals and emissions on a par with emissions from other sectors (industry, the energy sector, end-users). The successful integration of LULUCF into the EU climate policy and carbon-trading frameworks could dovetail neatly with emerging international climate change mitigation efforts.