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The capacity of forests to act as a “carbon sink” – absorbing more CO2 than they emit – is decreasing and needs to be reversed, the European Commission said in September last year when it presented its 2030 climate target plan.
Bioeconomy will play a crucial role in delivering the European Union's environmental and climate neutrality agenda. The farm sector is no exception and at least half of the nine objectives of the post-2020 EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) relate directly to this concept.
As part of the Renewable Energy Directive review (RED II), the Commission proposed a gradual phase-out of food-based biofuels, which should be replaced by “more advanced biofuels” that do not compete with food crops.
Forests are Europe’s biggest carbon sinks and forestry the sector with the greatest potential to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the quantities needed to meet the bloc’s objectives under the Paris Agreement.
The European Commission's proposal to limit the use of biofuels in transport has drawn heated reactions from farmers who have warned about the effects on jobs and the economy.
Developing rural areas across Europe has emerged as a necessity in order for the EU to meet a wide range of economic, environmental and social challenges.
