C 67/44
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
8.2.2022
Wednesday 9 June 2021
97.
Underlines the importance of resilient and healthy forest ecosystems, including fauna and flora, in maintaining and enhancing the delivery of the multiple ecosystem services that forests provide, such as biodiversity, clean air, water, healthy soil, and wood and non-wood raw materials; points out that achieving the EU’s goals for the environment, climate and biodiversity will never be possible without forests and forestry that is multifunctional, healthy and sustainably managed and that takes a long-term perspective; 98.
Points out the need to develop a coherent approach to bring together biodiversity protection and climate protection with a thriving forest-based sector and sustainable bio-economy; 99.
Acknowledges the role of using the wood from sustainably managed forests and wooden products to contribute to the move towards a CO2-neutral economy and to the development of the circular bio-economy; 100.
Underlines the need to revise and align EU rules on the use of biomass for energy production with the objectives of the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the European Climate Law, notably as part of the Renewable Energy Directive and the delegated acts under the Taxonomy Regulation; 101.
Welcomes the commitment to plant at least three billion additional trees in the EU; stresses that the EU’s tree planting initiatives should be based on clear ecological principles, proforestation, sustainable reforestation, greening of urban and peri-urban areas, restoration, enhancement of connectivity and agroforestry, in line with the latest scientific knowledge; calls on the Commission to ensure that these initiatives are carried out only in a manner compatible with and conducive to the biodiversity objectives, making sure that this planting does not replace existing old-growth and biodiverse forests, and contributing to making sure forests are resilient, mixed and healthy; 102.
Recalls its positions detailed in its resolution on an EU legal framework to halt and reverse EU-driven global deforestation; calls on the Commission to urgently present a proposal for an EU legal framework based on mandatory due diligence that ensures that value chains are sustainable and that products or commodities placed on the EU market do not result in or derive from deforestation, forest degradation, ecosystem conversion or degradation or human rights violations; notes that such an EU legal framework should also be extended to cover high-carbon stock and biodiversity-rich ecosystems other than forests, such as marine and coastal ecosystems, wetlands, peatlands and savannahs, so as to avoid pressure being shifted to these landscapes; 103.
Asks the Commission to investigate the possibility of creating a legal framework, primarily within the World Trade Organization (WTO), allowing for the prohibition of trade in certain raw materials, products and services that endanger biodiversity; 104.
Stresses that the environmental footprint of the EU’s production and consumption should urgently be reduced in order to stay within planetary boundaries; calls on the Commission to propose binding EU targets for 2030 to significantly reduce the EU’s material and consumption footprints and bring them within planetary boundaries by 2050 (84); supports the Commission in taking a life-cycle approach to measuring the environmental footprint of products and organisations; considers that plastic production and use should be reduced; considers that economic activities affecting and exploiting ecosystems and their biodiversity should incorporate all possible safeguards to mitigate their negative impact on these ecosystems;
Climate change 105.
Expresses its concern that the majority of the ranges of terrestrial species will decrease significantly in a 1,5 to 2 oC global warming scenario and that marine species will be equally threatened, especially since these temperature increases will most likely be exceeded with the current trajectories; reiterates, therefore, the need to significantly increase the EU’s ambitions, prioritising nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches in meeting climate mitigation goals and in adaptation strategies and to increase the protection of terrestrial and marine natural carbon sinks in the EU as a complementary measure to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions; 106.
Calls on the Commission to assess the impact of climate change on the abundance and geographical distribution of species, to take this assessment into account when implementing the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, and to help the Member States to incorporate the results into their national policies and in future reporting under the nature directives;
(84)
Resolution on the New Circular Economy Action Plan.