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Review
. 2025 Jul;643(8074):1203-1213.
doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-08967-3. Epub 2025 Jul 30.

Securing the forest carbon sink for the European Union's climate ambition

Mirco Migliavacca  1 , Giacomo Grassi  2 , Ana Bastos  3   4 , Guido Ceccherini  5 , Philippe Ciais  6 , Greet Janssens-Maenhout  2 , Emanuele Lugato  2 , Miguel D Mahecha  3   4   7 , Kimberly A Novick  8 , Josep Peñuelas  9   10 , Roberto Pilli  11 , Markus Reichstein  12 , Valerio Avitabile  5 , Pieter S A Beck  2 , José I Barredo  2 , Giovanni Forzieri  13 , Martin Herold  14   15 , Anu Korosuo  2 , Nicolas Mansuy  2   16 , Sarah Mubareka  2 , Rene Orth  17 , Paul Rougieux  5 , Alessandro Cescatti  2
Affiliations
Review

Securing the forest carbon sink for the European Union's climate ambition

Mirco Migliavacca et al. Nature. 2025 Jul.

Abstract

The European Union (EU) climate policies rely on a functioning forest carbon sink. Forests cover about 40% of the EU area and have absorbed about 436 Mt of carbon dioxide equivalent per year between 1990 and 2022, which is about 10% of the EU's anthropogenic emissions. However, the ability of forests to act as carbon sinks is rapidly declining owing to increasing natural and anthropogenic pressures, threatening the EU's climate goals and calling for prompt actions. Here we provide actionable research recommendations to improve the monitoring and modelling of forest resources and their carbon sink, and to better inform forest management decisions. We suggest a timeline for the development of these measures to better support the implementation of strategies and policies outlined in the European Green Deal.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests

References

    1. Mauser, H. Key Questions on Forests in the EU (European Forest Institute, 2021).
    1. Ciais, P. et al. Carbon accumulation in European forests. Nat. Geosci. 1, 425–429 (2008).
    1. Magnani, F. et al. The human footprint in the carbon cycle of temperate and boreal forests. Nature 447, 849–851 (2007).
    1. Bellassen, V. et al. Reconstruction and attribution of the carbon sink of European forests between 1950 and 2000. Glob. Change Biol. 17, 3274–3292 (2011).
    1. State of Europe’s Forests 2020 (Forest Europe, 2020).

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