The EU adopted legislation on Monday 14 May as part of the Climate-Energy framework for action to 2030 that is vital for implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The Council adopted, without debate, the Lulucf (land use, land-use change and forestry) regulation on the contribution of forestry and agriculture to the EU’s climate targets during the period from 2020 to 2030 (see EUROPE 11926).
The text follows on from the interinstitutional agreement reached in December 2017 under Estonian presidency of the Council on the legislation supplementing the regulation on effort-sharing among the 28 member states in non-ETS sectors (see other article).
Under the terms of the Lulucf regulation, member states must ensure a balance between CO2 emissions and absorption by forests, cultivated land and grassland over the course of the two periods (2021-2025 and 2026-2030). If absorption exceeds emissions in the first period, credits may be held in reserve and used in the second period. Wetlands are included in the accounting rules.
Poland voted against text. In a statement, its expresses “deep disappointment” at this legislation which, it says, fails to take proper account the fact that forest ecosystems are the largest and the most important carbon sink in Europe. It argues that setting the forest reference level for managed forest land on the basis of a short period between 2000 and 2009 is an arbitrary decision which works to the benefit of some countries and to the detriment of others.
Latvia and Lithuania expressed concern over the mandatory accounting obligations for wetlands from 2026. In a statement, they call on the Commission to take into account, in revisions of the regulation, the possible lack of precise data and national emission factors for estimating emissions and removals under wetland management and to ensure that member states have sufficient time to improve them.
Portugal backed the agreement but highlighted that mandatory accounting of wetlands will impose a significant effort for a number of member states for whom wetlands are a negligible source of emissions. It also called for measures to incentivise the delivery of effective emissions reductions and to encourage carbon capture. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)