Land use and carbon mitigation in Europe: A survey of the potentials of different alternatives

Abstract

This paper surveys studies applied to Europe that analyse carbon emission mitigation alternatives involving the use of land. We analyse a variety of alternatives that include land-use changes, forest management and bioenergy production. Our aim is to approximate the aggregate amount of carbon offsets that can be achieved through these alternatives and to show to what extent the results of the different studies are compatible and take into account the fact that land is a finite resource. Finally, based on the surveyed studies, we estimate the potential contribution of these alternatives to the goals of emission reduction proposed by the European Union for the years 2020 and 2050. Taking into account the results of the different studies analysed in this survey, land-based alternatives can contribute from 13% to 52% of the European proposed target by 2020. The implementation of these alternatives would concurrently require from 8% to 30% of EU-25 agricultural land to be afforested or diverted to bioenergy crops in this period.