The Wood Be Better network invites to a hybrid event on 1st June 2022 from 10.30 to 12.00 CEST (Renaissance Brussels Hotel or online).

In December 2021, the European Commission adopted a Communication on Sustainable Carbon Cycles. It sets out an action plan on how to develop sustainable solutions to increase carbon removals. The Communication includes several initiatives, among them to reward land managers for carbon sequestration, ambitions to increase the share of biobased materials in the construction sector and to incentivize carbon removals through Bio-Energy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). 

The European Commission will by the end of 2022 put forward a regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals. The certification framework should ensure the transparent identification of carbon farming and industrial solutions that unambiguously remove carbon from the atmosphere. 

The upcoming legislative proposal and the already adopted communication on Sustainable Carbon Cycles raises several important questions for forest owners and forest industries, such as: 

• How to ensure that carbon removal schemes do not divert action from reducing fossil emissions, the number one priority in mitigating climate change? 
• What risks and opportunities do carbon farming business models for forests provide in terms of developing the bioeconomy and ensuring the provision of renewable and recyclable raw material to displace fossil resources? 
• How can we design technical and nature-based carbon removals solutions that do not prove counterproductive to other societal objectives, such as reducing the use of fossil resources or preserving biodiversity? 
• How can the upcoming legislative proposal contribute to providing the largest climate change mitigation from forests?