About LULUCF

The LULUCF Regulation provides basic rules for reporting results of rather complex processes associated with land use activities. This involves differentiating GHGs, classifying the land into reporting categories, and documenting the impact of land management on emission factors or carbon pools. In general, this concept enables Member States to report GHG emissions and removals from the LULUCF sector in a transparent, accurate, complete, consistent, and comparable way.

The LULUCF Regulation integrates the GHG emissions and carbon removals from land use and land use change into the EU climate framework to achieve climate neutrality. It sets targets and specific rules for reporting and accounting emissions and removals from the land sector.

The LULUCF Regulation

• covers three greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O), 
• defines seven (7) carbon pools that should be considered: living biomass, dead organic matter (including litter and dead wood), mineral soils, organic soils, and harvested wood products (HWP),
• defines ten land reporting categories that correspond to 
• six land use classes: forest land, cropland, grassland, wetlands, settlements, and other land.  
• four land use independent reporting categories: harvested wood products, atmospheric deposition, nitrogen leaching and run-off, and other emissions. 

Land use activities such as cultivating crops on arable land, grazing animals on grassland, or growing trees in forests, provide the basis for human livelihoods and well-being. They supply food, multiple resources, freshwater and contribute to a wide range of other ecosystem services, as well as to biodiversity. These land use activities cause emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) but also lead to CO₂ removals from the atmosphere through plant growth and carbon storage in biomass, soils, and wood products. To protect stored carbon or enhance carbon sequestration capacity of the land various management options are available. Such management options include planting trees, restoring natural forests, practicing agroforestry, adopting agricultural and forestry practices that protect and enhance soil carbon, protecting wetlands, restoring and rewetting peatlands, and promoting long-lasting wood products. These options can help to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) require developed countries to produce annually updated inventories of GHG emissions and removals on their territories. For EU countries, the Governance Regulation and the LULUCF Regulation set additional rules for reporting of GHG emissions and removals from the land sector. The reporting system documents land-use changes and the associated GHG emissions and removals when fully implemented. It also reflects changes in management practices within a land reporting category that occur on these areas. 

The main land reporting categories for land use can include quite different types of ecosystems (see Figure 1). The coverage of these categories also depends on national . Generally, they cover the following: 

• forest land: land areas covered by forests and woody vegetation as defined by the national forest definition. Forest land areas may be temporarily without trees after harvest or storms and if trees will re-grow on this land area. 
• cropland: land with annual crops or perennial crops including orchards, vineyards, or agro-forestry systems where the woody vegetation falls below the thresholds of the national forest definition. 
• grassland: rangelands, pastures, or grassland, an any woody vegetation on grassland is included if it falls below the thresholds of the national forest definition. 
• wetlands: areas covered or saturated by water for all or part of the year such as peatlands or water reservoirs. 
• settlements: areas with human settlements, roads, or other infrastructure. 
• other land: bare soil, rock, ice, and land that does not fall into the other categories. 

Each reported unit of land is assigned a land reporting category and remains in that category until a change in land use is identified. Units of land that change use are assigned to specific transition sub-categories that reflect the undergone land-use change (LUC). For example, when a forest area is cleared to make room for cropland, this land will be classified as ‘forest land converted to cropland’. The sub-category is then reported under cropland, not forest land. The land area remains in this ‘converted to’ sub-category for a default of 20 years, before it moves to a ‘cropland remaining cropland’ sub-category.

Figure 1: Land-use categories present in a European landscape 

Source: Own compilation based on https://forest.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/activities/lulucf/. 

Reporting of GHG emissions and removals under the LULUCF Regulation addresses specific greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O). These gases differ in their global warming potential and the processes and land-use activities from which they are emitted or absorbed. Methane and nitrous oxide, also referred to as non-CO₂ GHG, make up a small proportion of total GHG emissions. Both gases are associated with biomass burning, e.g., from forest fires. N₂O and CH₄ emissions also result from peatland drainage. Direct N₂O emissions occur due to nitrogen mineralization or immobilization associated with the loss or gain of soil organic matter resulting from soil management. CH₄ emissions arise from flooded land (see also Figure 4). For reporting, emissions of non-CO2 gases normally are estimated based on emission factors per unit of land derived from measurements and scientific literature. 

Biomass growth and decomposition cause CO2 removals and emissions, respectively. While there are emissions of CO2 and non-CO2 gases, removals only occur for CO2. Unlike non-CO2 gases, they are estimated by identifying different carbon pools. Carbon pools are reservoirs of carbon that hold a carbon stock (i.e. a certain amount of carbon). To estimate CO2 emissions and removals for each pool in each land-use category, the changes in carbon stocks are assessed at two points in time, or the flows of carbon into and out of the pools are assessed over a certain period. For reporting, these estimates are calculated as annual numbers.
Carbon sinks refer to pools that remove more carbon than they emit over one year, increasing their carbon stocks over time. Pools that annually emit more carbon than they remove are referred to as carbon sources. When total carbon stocks across all carbon pools increase, net removals of carbon from the atmosphere occur. Net emissions occur when total carbon stocks decrease. 

Changes in carbon stocks are estimated for the following six carbon pools referred to in the LULUCF Regulation:

• Living biomass: differentiated into above-ground (i.e. stem, branches, and leaves) and below-ground biomass (i.e. roots);
• Litter: a specific pool of dead organic matter in forests;
• Dead wood: includes lying and standing dead trees in forests;
• Dead organic matter (DOM): consists of dead plant material transferred to the pools dead wood and litter; the pool is reported if dead wood and litter cannot be separated, e.g. for cropland, grassland, and wetlands;
• Soil organic carbon (SOC) in mineral and organic soils; and
• Harvested wood products: paper, wood used for construction or furniture and others.

On average, the net removals occurring in the LULUCF sector in the EU compensate for 7% of the total EU emissions by resulting in overall net removals from the atmosphere. In 2022, the LULUCF sector in the EU, covered land use activities on 424 Mha and was a net sink of -236 Mt CO2eq (see Figure 2). The emission trend is largely driven by forest land. Inter-annual variations in emission are primarily caused by natural disturbance events, such as windstorms in central Europe and wildfires in Mediterranean countries. The market demand for timber is another factor as well affecting net emissions. 

Figure 2: EU GHG emissions (+)/ removals (-) from LULUCF sector

Source: EU - European Union (2024)

Forests in the EU absorb carbon, making them a significant net sink for CO₂. However, the rate of carbon stock increase has been declining since around 2013 due to increased harvest rates and the impact of climate change and natural disturbances on EU forests. In contrast, croplands, grasslands, wetlands, and settlements are net sources of GHG. 

The LULUCF sector’s relative contribution to total emissions differs strongly among geographical regions and countries (see Figure 3). Some EU Member States offset more than 20% of their emissions from other sectors through net CO₂ removals from land use, such as Lithuania, Romania, and Sweden. For other Member States, the LULUCF sector is a considerable net source of emissions (e.g. Latvia, Finland, Ireland). This indicates that the land sector differs widely among the Member States. The LULUCF Regulation incorporates national targets that consider recent data reported by countries, reflecting their national circumstances.

Figure 3: Relevance of the LULUCF sector as net sink or net source contribution to total GHG emissions in EU Member States and total EU in [2022]

Source: EU - European Union (2024)

The LULUCF Regulation (EU 2018/841) defines the contribution of the land sector to achieving the EU’s climate targets. It sets a Union-wide target for the LULUCF sector to achieve net GHG removals of -310 Mt CO2eq in 2030.  

Member States’ commitments are implemented in two distinct periods: 

• In the period from 2021 to 2025, each Member State must comply with the ‘no-debit’ rule. This means that they must ensure that within their LULUCF sector, accounted emissions do not exceed accounted removals. 
• For the period 2026 - 2030, compliance with the targets is simplified: 
• The Regulation sets out binding national targets for 2030 for each Member State, covering all emissions and removals in the LULUCF sector reported in GHG inventories (Art. 4.3). Individual targets are derived from Member States’ average historic net emissions or removals for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 and the countries’ share of the total EU managed land area used to allocate the EU target to Member States. 
• From 2026 to 2029, Member States must respect a LULUCF ‘budget’ defined as the sum of all net removals that are required (Art. 4.4). 

Land use refers to all activities that humans carry out on land. The EU climate policy framework maintains a regulatory separation between the agriculture sector, addressing emissions from livestock and fertilizer management and covered by the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), and the land sector, addressing mostly carbon emissions and removals from land use and covered by the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry ( LULUCF) Regulation.

Although agricultural land use activities may occur on the same land area, the resulting emissions and removals are recorded in two different sectors of the GHG inventory, avoiding double-counting (see Figure 4).

As described above, the LULUCF sector mainly includes CO₂ emissions and removals from biomass, soils or harvested wood products in the land reporting categories and a few land-use related sources of CH₄ and N₂O emissions. These emissions and removals are regulated through the LULUCF Regulation. 

Figure 4: Overview of emission and removals sources and sinks in the LULUCF and the agriculture sector in national GHG inventories

Source: Own compilation

The agriculture sector includes non-CO₂ emissions from fertiliser application, cultivation of histosols, livestock farming, including enteric fermentation in ruminant animals or manure management. The sector primarily reports on methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions. These emissions are regulated through the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) that sets individual targets for countries for the sum of sectors covered by the regulation but not for specific sectors. 
Figure 4 provides a detailed overview of how CO₂ emissions and removals, and N₂O and CH₄ emissions from agriculture and LULUCF are grouped into two different sectors within national GHG inventories. Emissions from fuel combustion from agriculture machinery or transport in forestry or on farms are included in the energy sector. These emissions are regulated through the ESR and the EU Emissions Trading System to be implemented in 2027 for buildings and road transport (ETS 2). 

Improved monitoring, reporting and verification are at the heart of how the LULUCF Regulation will support Member States in adopting effective policies and measures in the land sector. Member States’ GHG inventories will be the main tool for tracking progress towards targets, so methodological improvements and geographically-explicit results are needed. 

GHG emissions and removals from the land sector must be reported in a transparent, accurate, complete, consistent, comparable, and publicly available manner. Using the best available methodologies, national GHG inventories will enable Member States to have a good understanding of developments in the land sector and to apply measures and policies in a timely and effective manner. 

Higher Tiers increase the quality of calculations and avoid the use of default assumptions for some sectors or sub-sectors. Geographically-explicit monitoring of land use change allows Member States to track precisely what is happening on the field. Combining high quality datasets in a geographically-explicit framework helps policy makers to have a comprehensive and detailed view of the evolution of carbon fluxes and to assess the impact of their policies in a timely manner. 

Biomass can help EU countries to reach their climate and environmental objectives. However, climate change might affect the EU's biomass production in agriculture and forest sectors (EEA 2023). 

Biomass extraction from land is reported as an emission under the LULUCF Regulation in the biomass pool of the respective land use category. Biomass from annual crops is not reported because the grown biomass is harvested within one year. Therefore, emissions from bioenergy combustion, be it from crops or tree biomass, are not accounted for in the energy sector, to avoid double counting. 

The EU Emissions Trading System and the Effort Sharing Regulation assume zero emissions at the power plant or household where biomass is burnt. This makes good accounting sense and ensures that bioenergy is not ‘carbon neutral’ across the framework, but correctly accounted. 

Biomass use for energy as well as for products can reduce fossil fuel emissions through substitution effects. These effects are reported in the respective sectors, e.g. energy and thus not visible in LULUCF reporting. The national targets set in the LULUCF Regulation are now comparable to those set in the other sectors. This should help Member States to manage the climate trade-offs involved in their forest biomass harvest and use policies, including interactions between natural disturbance risks, harvested wood products, bioenergy, and substitution effects, more explicitly ​(Fehrenbach et al. 2022)​. 

Carbon stocks in forests and harvested wood products (HWP) are closely related and interdependent in the context of GHG reporting. Trees harvested for wood products have their stored carbon removed from the forest ecosystem and thus reported as an emission in the forest land category. 

Transferring harvested carbon into HWP, such as wood beams, paper, or furniture, delays associated CO2 emissions until the end of the product’s life. This process is reported as an inflow to the HWP pool, while the decay of existing HWP products at the end of their lifetime is reported as an outflow. The sum is reported either as a removal if the inflow is larger than the outflow or as an emission if the outflow is larger than the inflow. The carbon stored in HWP is much less than carbon in the forest biomass that is affected by timber harvest. This is because up to 30%-50% of the biomass is left to decay in the forest (including branches, roots and stumps), and some wood is lost along the processing chain. Timber is also exported and processed outside the country of origin which means it is not reported as a harvested wood product when the reporting is done following the production approach, which is the approach used by the EU for the Paris Agreement. Moreover, the largest share of harvested wood in the EU is used for bioenergy or short-lived products like paper and paperboard. Ultimately, only 10-20% of forest biomass ends up in long-lived HWP ​(Valade et al. 2017)​.  

At the end of their lifecycle, HWP can undergo various fates. If left to decompose naturally, the carbon in HWP will gradually be released back into the atmosphere as CO2 and counted as emissions from the HWP pools. If HWP are burned for energy, the carbon is directly released into the atmosphere as CO2. When HWP are being recycled and used to make new products, the stored carbon is redirected to and stored in the new products until the end of their lifetime. 

In GHG inventories, an increase in harvest reduces carbon stored in the forest pool, while it increases carbon stored in the HWP pools. Allocating more wood to long-lasting products (e.g. particleboards, insulating materials) instead of short-lived ones (e.g. paper, energy) can have higher beneficial effects on net removals compared to changes in forest management changes ​(Le Pierres et al. 2022; Smyth et al. 2014)​.

Figure 5: Development of emissions (positive values) and removals (negative values) from the category Harvested Wood Products (HWP) from 1990 to 2022 in the EU (EU submission 2024)

Source: EEA Dataviewer. 

Biochar is defined as a solid carbonised product created through thermochemical conversion by heating to above 300°C with limited air through a gasification or pyrolysis process (IPCC 2019). The impact of biochar on emissions and removals can be reported in the GHG Inventory, as well as the impact of related practices. 

The 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories provides guidance for the estimation of emissions and removals from biochar soil amendments to be reported under the LULUCF sector. This makes it easier to report the impact of biochar as the estimating method does not need to be elaborated by the country anymore. However, the 2019 Refinement falls short of providing a Tier 1 method with default emission factors for the estimation of biochar soil amendments. Thus, Member States willing to account for biochar soil amendments need to develop representative country-specific emission factors for the biochar types used in their country (Tier 2) or more detailed activity data specifying the process conditions for biochar production, or the physical and chemical characteristics of the biochar applied (Tier 3). 

Just like bioenergy accounting, carbon stock changes in soils associated with the use of biochar only tell part of the story. Emissions that occur along the biochar feedstock supply chain are estimated in other LULUCF categories or sectors. For example, the harvesting and use of wood biomass for biochar production is reported in the biomass pools of the relevant land-use categories. Emissions associated with the use of machinery for harvesting, transport, and non-CO2 emissions from the pyrolysis of the biochar feedstocks are included in the energy sector.

The IPCC Guidelines already provide for inventory compilers to estimate and report on anthropogenic sinks from any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, in their national GHG inventories (IPCC 2024).  This includes direct air capture technologies However, with the emergence of new carbon dioxide removal technologies and the generation of new empirical data on relevant sources and sinks new IPCC Guidelines adressing such activities are needed. The IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI) develops a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage activities to become available by the end of 2027.   

Blue carbon is the carbon captured by marine organisms and stored in living and dead biomass as well as in organic compounds in the sediment (Reise et al. 2024). A lot of blue carbon is stored in coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrass meadows. There is still limited information related to the amounts of carbon stored in these ecosystems, the quantification of impacts of human activities on such ecosystems and how damaged systems can be regenerated. The IPCC 2006 guidelines already include guidance for estimating and reporting of anthropogenic GHG emissions and removals from managed mangrove forests. The IPCC 2013 Wetlands Supplement and the IPCC 2019 Refinement complement guidance for tidal marshes and seagrass meadows. The reporting only covers management activities such as the construction of aquaculture ponds, drainage, extraction of soils or rewetting. It does not cover the natural GHG emissions and removals. Blue carbon is generally reported in the Wetland category, although a few exceptions may happen (see 2013 Wetlands Supplement p. 4.8). 

So far, only Malta and France6 report on blue carbon, specifically on tidal marshes as well as mangroves in oversea territories ​(Reise et al. 2024)​. One reason could be that methods for reporting GHG fluxes from coastal ecosystems as typically present in the EU are only provided in the 2013 IPCC Wetland Supplement, the use of which is authorized but not required by the LULUCF Regulation and the UNFCCC