Tomorrow, the EU’s energy ministers will vote on LULUCF regarding proposed increased carbon sinks in the EU, something that Sweden intends to vote against. “Shameful and ignorant,” says Protect the Forest. The NGO urges the Swedish government to stop turning a blind eye to the gigantic environmental disaster that is underway. In the appeal to the government, there is a long list of forests in Sweden with high conservation values that are planned to be clear-cut or recently have been clear-cut.
Ulf von Sydow, spokesperson for Protect the Forest, comments:
“It is shameful, ignorant, nonchalant and embarrassing that Sweden, which holds the current EU presidency, openly intends to oppose a central part of the EU’s climate package “Fit for 55″. To vote no to the negotiated LULUCF agreement on the storage of carbon in the forest land is to fall flat for the forest industry’s lying campaigns about the excellence of the Swedish forestry model.”
In the letter to the government, Protect the Forest emphasizes that Sweden’s forestry contributes to large carbon dioxide emissions: “When a forest is felled, it ceases to function as a carbon sink and instead begins to function as a carbon source. Large amounts of carbon dioxide are released from the felled surface, which takes decades for the new growing trees to compensate for. 80% of the forest that is felled becomes short-lived products such as paper and bioenergy that are burned up.”
Protect the Forest writes in the letter that the situation is urgent: The few natural forests with high conservation values that remain are decreasing at a rapid rate. The association refers to the UN conference on biological diversity in Montreal in December 2022. At the conference it was stated that we need to preserve 30% of land and sea of representative habitats. But Sweden is far from reaching this goal since only 6% of all forests are formally (strictly) protected.
What is LULUCF?
LULUCF = Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry. A regulation that sets rules for emission reductions and carbon removals in the land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector. In October 2020, the European Commission amended the existing LULUCF legislation with a delegated act setting forest reference levels (FRLs) that each country must apply between 2021 and 2025.
Read the entire letter here (in Swedish).
Contact: Ulf von Sydow, spokesperson for Skydda Skogen: 070-5870241 ulf.vonsydow@skyddaskogen.se