The EU climate package “Fit for 55” – a double-edged sword for Europeans and their forests and timber industry

The “Fit for 55” climate package adopted by the EU is intended to prepare the way for the EU's climate neutrality in 2050. It contains measures affecting the forestry and timber sector. We evaluate three instruments: the proposal for a New EU Forest Strategy for 2030, the EU Renewable Energy Directive and the Land-use, Land-Use Change and Forestry Regulation with regard to their implications for sustainable forest management. The demands that the three instruments impose on forest management are not coherent and are dominated by ecological aspects as well as by the intention to increase the forest C-pool. As they lack a holistic view, they do not meet the requirements of multifunctional, sustainable forest management.