EIT Climate-KIC is to launch a forestry innovation programme combining bio-economy, conservation and sequestration approaches to help deliver European mitigation targets. WiseEuropa took part in the project preparing background paper on case study of Polish forestry sector.
The programme will aim to bring more of Europe’s privately owned, unmanaged forests into sustainable production through increased investment, new forest management techniques, the use of advanced geo-data for monitoring and traceability, and the creation of bio-based wood construction value chains to replace fossil-based material use.
The plans are underpinned by a body of new research initiated by Climate-KIC and partners including leading institutions Wageningen University (Netherlands), INRA(France), Lund University (Sweden), and I4CE (France).
The main idea of the released Climate-KIC report suggests that forests currently account for around 10 per cent of Europe’s total greenhouse gas mitigation efforts, but innovation could double this impact by 2050 if afforestation is supported, forest management is improved and fossil-based construction products are substituted with wood-based ones.
The report underlines how greater collaboration and knowledge-sharing between public and private decision-makers is needed to deliver climate-smart forestry solutions that go beyond simple carbon sequestration.
