Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2018/841 to deliver economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions reductions as part of the European Green deal
Date: 2021-04-27
Institutions: Directorate-General for Climate Action, European Commission
Subjects: climate change policy



IMMC.Ares%282021%292795938.ENG.xhtml.PART-2021-227733V1.docx








summary of the public consultation for the review of the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) regulation


1.INTRODUCTION


The revision of the LULUCF Regulation aims to make the LULUCF Regulation fit for reaching at least 55% net greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030 compared to 1990, in line with the 2030 Climate Target Plan, as a staging post to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. This public consultation was carried out to gather stakeholder views on this revision, and was simultaneously published alongside consultations on the EU ETS Directive, the Effort Sharing Regulation and the Regulation on CO2 standards for cars and vans. 


This document provides a high-level breakdown of the responses to the consultation. The public consultation was open for 12 weeks from 13 November 2020 to 5 February 2021. The online questionnaire contained 13 questions, mainly multiple choice questions but with the possibility to elaborate on the given response and to submit position papers. 


2.APPROACH TO THE PUBLIC CONSULTATION


The consultation was open to anyone via the EU online system
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 . The questionnaire was composed of four sections. The first collected feedback on the mitigation and business potential of the land sector and the bioeconomy to the overall climate ambition for 2030. The second addressed the overall policy approach for revising the LULUCF Regulation in view of the increased 2030 climate ambition. The third collected feedback on more ambitious rules and targets for the LULUCF sector. The fourth focussed on the links between land use and agriculture. Finally, one open question at the end asked the respondent for any further relevant feedback, information, papers or opinions they wished to share. 


3.RESPONSES TO THE PUBLIC CONSULTATION 


Disclaimer: the views expressed in the contributions received are those of the authors and cannot under any circumstances be regarded as the official position of the Commission or its services.


Overview of responses


The OPC on the review of the EU rules on LULUCF received a total of 235 replies from different stakeholders/user groups. Private sector organisations had a combined share of the responses of 28%. This includes business associations with a total of 18% (43 responses) and companies/business organisations with a total share of 10% (24 responses) of all submitted responses. 26% (60 responses) of all responses came from EU-Citizens. 17% of respondents represent a non-governmental organisation (NGO) (41 responses) and 12% came from academia (29 responses). There are also a number of responses from public authorities (8% /18 responses), trade unions (2% /4 responses), environmental organisations (1% / 3 responses), and a non-EU citizen (1 response). 5% (12 responses) were from a stakeholder group which was not predefined. 



Figure 1 – Responses to the public consultation by stakeholder type



Figure 2 Responses to the public consultation by country of origin


 


Figure 2 – Responses to the public consultation by country of origin


The aggregated responses to questions 1 to 13 are shown as follows: 


Part I: Mobilising the mitigation and business potential of the land sector and the bioeconomy 


Q1 - Among the following drivers behind the decline of the land-based net carbon sink, which are the most important in your view?





Q2 - Among these potential EU policy approaches to promote climate change mitigation in land-related sectors, which do you think are the most relevant to achieve a higher climate ambition in 2030?



Q3 - What is the best policy approach to harness the substitution effect and carbon storage potential of long-lived wood products and bio-based and renewable materials?



Q4 - In which areas should the EU focus efforts to enhance carbon sinks and protect carbon stocks?



Q5 - How should more ambitious climate action in land-related sectors be financed?



Part II: Overall policy approach 


Q6 - Which is your preferred policy approach to revise the LULUCF Regulation in view of the increased 2030 climate ambition?



Q6 – Breakdown by stakeholder:







Part III: Setting more ambitious rules for the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry sector


Q7 – In your opinion, should there be more stringent targets for the LULUCF sector?


 


Q7 – Breakdown by stakeholder


Q8- In case there would be national targets for the LULUCF sector, what criterion should these targets be based on?



Q9 - In the current LULUCF Regulation, emissions and removals from existing forests are compared to a Forest Reference Level.  Should the EU continue with the Forest Reference Level concept?





Q10 - Among these options to reinforce the LULUCF monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) rules, which are your preferred ones?



Part IV: Links between land use and agriculture


Q11 - How should the architecture of EU climate policy be designed when it comes to agriculture and land use?



Q12 - In case there were to be a single policy strand covering emissions from the land sector (agriculture, forestry and other land use), should there then be a specific target for this sector?



Q13 - In case there were to be national targets for the land sector (agriculture, forestry and other land use), what criterion should these targets be based on?







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https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12657-Land-use-land-use-change-and-forestry-review-of-EU-rules