PURPOSE: to contribute to the reduction of total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU over the period 2021-2030 through better protection and management of land and forests throughout the Union.
LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) 2018/841 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry in the 2030 climate and energy framework, and amending Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 and Decision No 529/2013/EU.
CONTENT: the Regulation sets out Member States' commitments in the area of land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) which contribute to achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the EU's greenhouse gas emission reduction target for the period 2021-2030.
Accounting rules: the new regulation establishes a framework for accounting for LULUCF emissions and removals. This shall enable the EU to meet its Paris goal of reducing emissions by at least 40% by 2030.
To this end, the Regulation establishes EU-wide accounting rules for LULUCF activities, which have been developed to ensure effective and consistent accounting of emissions and removals generated during the period 2021-2030.
The Regulation applies to reported greenhouse gas emissions and removals occurring within the territory of the Member States and falling under the following land accounting categories: forested land, deforested land, managed cropland, managed grassland, managed forest land.
Wetland accounting shall become mandatory for the period 2026-2030, unless a 5-year deferral is considered appropriate in the light of experience gained from updating the 2006 guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
During the period 2021-2025, a Member State may choose to extend its commitment also to managed wetland by notifying the Commission by 31 December 2020.
The Regulation lays down general rules to avoid double counting of emissions or removals, in particular by ensuring that emissions and removals are not accounted for under more than one land accounting category.
Commitments: under the Regulation, all Member States shall ensure that their total emissions in the LULUCF sector are balanced and do not exceed total CO₂ removals.
Flexibilities: the Regulation provides that a Member State may use the general flexibilities as well as flexibilities for the managed forest land to comply with its commitment. This would give Member States some flexibility to temporarily increase their harvest intensity in accordance with sustainable forest management practices that are consistent with the objective set out in the Paris Agreement, provided that within the Union total emissions do not exceed total removals in the LULUCF sector.
Under such flexibility, all Member States shall be granted a basic amount of compensation calculated on the basis of a factor expressed as a percentage of their reported sink in the period from 2000 to 2009 to compensate for the emissions from managed forest land they have accounted for. It should be ensured that Member States can only be compensated up to the level at which their forests are no longer sinks.
Compliance checks: by 15 March 2027 for the period 2021-2025, and by 15 March 2032 for the period 2026-2030, Member States shall be required to submit to the Commission a compliance report containing the balance of total emissions and removals for the relevant period on each of the land accounting categories defined in the Regulation.
On the basis of the compliance reports, the Commission shall prepare a report in 2027 and 2032. The European Environment Agency shall assist the Commission in the implementation of the monitoring and compliance framework.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: 9.7.2018.