A bright future for carbon forestry in Europe

At the 2^nd EU Carbon Farming Summit in Dublin, researchers and stakeholders from the agriculture and forestry sectors gathered to discuss the future of carbon removals and certification in Europe. Sweden, with its strong forestry tradition, played an important role in bringing the forest perspective to an otherwise agriculture-focused agenda.

The three-day conference focused on moving from theory to practice. Despite significant progress in the field, many challenges remain, particularly in creating a functional and robust market for carbon credits. Jonas Silfverschiöld, Chairman of Carbon Capture Company, attended the summit in Dublin along with CEO Tomas Lundmark. Jonas pointed out the imbalance between agriculture and forestry in the program as striking.

– The agenda was dominated by agriculture, while we from carbon forestry only had one dedicated session. Forestry must be given a more prominent role in future work, says Jonas Silfverschiöld.

Christian Holzleitner, Head of Unit at the European Commission responsible for carbon removal certification, together with Jonas Silfverschiöld, Chairman of Carbon Capture Company.

Despite the limited space given to forestry in the conference program, the organizers dedicated the opening session to forestry and featured a live-streamed panel discussion in the largest venue with some of the leading representatives in carbon forestry. Carbon Capture Company had the honor of being actively involved in both the planning and the panel discussion.

– We take away many lessons from our forest session. It is clear that much work is being done on both the standardization and project development sides. The big question is the buyer and the EU’s role. It is promising that DG Clima suggests that the EU is ready to step in and buy nature-based carbon credits as a way for the EU to meet its climate goals. At the same time, it is hoped that this will serve as a strong enough signal to inspire other market players to buy high-quality carbon credits from Europe, says Tomas Lundmark.

Forestry session titled Low hanging (tree) fruit – reaping forest-based carbon removal potential, identifying challenges and gaps to open doors to forest management solutions. Organizers: Anew Climate, Caritas, Climate KIC, I4CE, Cesefor, Foundation, Carbon Capture Company, ECS Climate Solutions, BlueBiloba, University of Florence, Preferred by Nature.

Biodiversity was also highlighted as an important aspect, but here too, there is a lack of clear market demand. Discussions revolved around whether biodiversity should be credited separately or “only” constitute a co-benefit for carbon credit projects. Many advocate for the latter model, but there is concern that overly strict requirements could become barriers for landowners to participate in the system.

Despite the challenges, the EU has made impressive progress in developing the Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF). To ensure continued success, it is crucial to include the market demand side – by engaging both policymakers and buyers in the process.

– And let the forest take its place. Forestry is forestry, not agriculture. Don’t complicate it. We have already existing, high quality forestry data – use it,” concludes Tomas Lundmark.