How nature helps fight climate change

Nature's role as a carbon sink

Natural areas capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere as part of the natural photosynthesis process and store it in 'carbon sinks'.

Forests, soils, peatlands and oceans all act as carbon sinks. Keeping them healthy plays an essential role in mitigating climate change.

However, many ecosystems are currently degraded, which reduces their carbon sequestration capacity. For example, in some EU member states forests have started to emit more CO₂ than they are capable of absorbing due to factors such as increased harvesting, fires and pest damage.

Restoring forests and other natural areas, and making them more resilient to events which lead to ecosystem degradation, is crucial in order to maintain and possibly increase their ability to absorb CO₂. Without restoration, their function as a carbon sink could decrease, which could have a negative impact on the EU's objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

EU measures to protect nature and soils

In order to improve nature's role as a carbon sink, as well as to safeguard its biodiversity, the EU has adopted certain measures, including:

• the nature restoration law
• increased targets for carbon removal in the land use sector

Nature restoration law

The nature restoration law aims to set a binding target at EU level, which will require member states to put in place effective restoration measures covering at least 20% of the EU's land and sea areas by 2030.

By 2050, measures will have to be in place for all ecosystems in need of restoration.

• Nature restoration

Carbon removal target for the land use sector

The land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) regulation, which was revised as part of the Fit for 55 package, sets a new, more ambitious EU-wide target for net greenhouse gas removals to be achieved by 2030 (310 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent). 

The regulation also sets binding targets for an increase in net greenhouse gas removals for each member state.