Greenhouse gas emissions and removals in land and forests

The LULUCF sector was a net sink of GHG during 1990–2023. The sink capacity of the LULUCF sector fluctuates, with an upward trend driven by the increase in the sink capacity of the forest land, grassland and cropland categories.

Forest land accounts for the majority of carbon dioxide (CO₂) removals – CO₂ is the main GHG emitted to and removed from the atmosphere following changes in carbon stocks. The upward trend in net GHG removals from this category is mainly attributed to the sustainable management of forests, the reduction in felling and the rehabilitation of coppices to high forests.

Grassland has acted as a sink from 1994 onwards, mainly due to the conversion of cropland to grassland. Cropland acted as GHG sink throughout 1990–2023, except for 2013 and 2014, when the category acted as a source, as is illustrated by the peak at the corresponding year in the graph.

The reduced size of the sink in 2007 is mainly attributed to the effects of forest fires, in terms of forest area burnt.

Greece’s 2030 removals targets are expected to be reached with the implementation of the existing measures, resulting in an increase in the sink capacity of the LULUCF sector. As the sector is characterised by potential reversibility and non-permanence of carbon stocks, any additional measures would assure the largest share of the LULUCF mitigation potential on the road towards climate neutrality by 2050.