Forestry is at the heart of our efforts to support sustainable landscapes, foster rural economic growth and employment, and strengthen the availability of a range of key renewable resources.
EU forests cover 155 million ha and wooded land covers 21 million ha, together accounting for more than 42% of EU land area. Forestry contributes to a range of EU policies, including rural development, renewable energy, development cooperation, biodiversity protection and climate change mitigation. Moreover, forests play an important role in maintaining soil health, reducing soil erosion and mitigating flood risks. They are also important carbon sinks, sequestering additional carbon as they grow.
Our activities support the full forest value chain including afforestation, reforestation, forest rehabilitation and protection, wood processing, timberland funds, and REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). We support the EU Forestry Strategy and the EU Forest Action Plan, which frame EU forestry policy, and the Timber Regulation and Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Initiative for tackling illegal logging and improving traceability. We are not involved in converting natural forest to plantation or commercial logging in primary tropical and subtropical forests.
The Sitka spruce is one of the largest species of evergreens in the world. It can grow to nearly 100 meters tall, at an astonishing pace of 1.5 meters per year, and have a trunk diameter of 5 meters. The largest one currently known has an estimated trunk volume of 337 cubic meters – surely enough to produce more than enough paper to print all the copies of Ulysses sold during James Joyce’s lifetime just from a single tree.
Every year, some 13 million hectares of forest are lost worldwide. The land use sectors are responsible for about 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Most of that is because of the loss and degradation of forests.
We have a wide range of products to support public and private investments offering flexibility, expertise and creativity to get projects off the ground
- Project loans
- Intermediated Loans
- Equity and fund investments
- Natural Capital Finance Facility (NCFF)