The EU’s climate policy and targets are ambitious – and rightly so. It is clear that global warming will pose significant challenges to nature, people, and the economy. Already, Europe has been experiencing increasing damages and economic losses from climate-related extreme weather events. This makes effective and well-targeted climate action more urgent than ever. The root cause of climate change is fossil emissions, which must be reduced sharply.
Finland’s forest industry plays a crucial role in turning this ambition into reality. It produces products that store bio-based carbon and replace fossil-intensive alternatives. These products are largely made from raw materials sourced from Finland’s multi-use forests and processed in mills where 92% of energy already comes from renewable sources. According to scenarios in the industry’s climate roadmap, it is possible to reduce fossil emissions to zero by 2035. The sector is truly “Made in Europe” and ready to strengthen the self-sufficiency, resilience, economy, and employment of both Finland and Europe as a whole.
Domestic sourcing of raw materials also supports long-term activity in sustainable forest management, reinforcing the health, growth, and vitality of European forests.
Harnessing the strengths of the bioeconomy to achieve the EU’s 2040 climate targets and reform the LULUCF regulation, we propose four key considerations to guide decision-making:
1. Allowing Flexibility in Target Setting
The next LULUCF target should be set as an indicative range, reflecting the natural variability and uncertainties of the land-use sector. Moving away from overly detailed targets would allow Member States to focus their efforts on enhancing forest growth and vitality, rather than on methodological and technical discussions.
2. Ensuring Reliability and Comparability of Member States’ Figures
Effective EU-level policy depends on carbon sink data that is reliable, comparable, and up to date. Aligning calculation methods across member states would improve transparency and support better cross-country comparisons.
3. Enhancing Flexibility to Reflect Climate Impacts
Some emissions from land use are unavoidable due to climate warming. Flexibility and force majeure principles can help address forest damage and peatland emissions. At the same time, carbon sink deficits should not be offset by increased mitigation obligations in other sectors.
4. Supporting Bioeconomy via Effective Climate Policy
EU climate policy should support the goals of the Bioeconomy Strategy, the Clean Industrial Deal, Europe’s strategic autonomy agenda, and EU’s competitiveness. Greater emphasis on the potential of wood-based products to replace non-renewable materials, and recognition of their carbon storage benefits, would strengthen the EU’s climate performance. Member States can enhance forest vitality and growth, by sustainable forestry while reducing deforestation and expanding forest areas.
Why is this important? Because the LULUCF framework is not just climate policy – it can shape Europe’s sustainable future. A fit-for-purpose LULUCF framework allows forests to store carbon and provide renewable raw materials for products that help us move beyond the fossil-intensive era.
