The European Green Deal and forests

The European Green Deal places great emphasis on preserving environmental values and increasing forests’ contributions to mitigate climate change.

“We will see impacts from the European Green Deal across a range of areas. Examples include how we account for carbon emissions and removals in the forestry and land-use sector, sustainability criteria for biomass extraction for energy, and criteria for sustainable forest management in investments,” says Knut Øistad at NIBIO.

Although Norway is not an EU member, it is part of the EU’s internal market through the EEA Agreement. Additionally, Norway has signed a bilateral agreement with the EU regarding the implementation of the Paris Agreement climate targets. This cooperation means EU climate legislation is also Norwegian legislation.

Many rules stemming from the European Green Deal are EEA-relevant and will become Norwegian law. Others are not, but they may still influence policies and consumer preferences in neighbouring areas. Although the EU lacks a common forest policy, it is focusing more on forests’ importance for energy, the environment, and climate.

The Green Deal constitute a significant overall impact on forest policy. It represents an ongoing challenge of navigating horizontal changes across multiple sectors simultaneously..

“The direction of the changes is clear: there will be greater emphasis on preserving environmental values and ensuring increased contributions from forests in mitigating climate change,” says Øistad.