Carbon accounting in the land sector requires a reference level. Carbon carrying capacity represented by the carbon stock in primary forests allows estimation of the mitigation potential derived from protecting and restoring forests. This study measured tree inventory data at primary forest sites across Europe, calculating total biomass carbon stock per hectare. It found that primary forest carbon stocks were significantly larger than modelled global maps, with large trees being key carbon reservoirs. Estimated carbon gain from protecting and restoring forests was substantial, comparable to the European Green Deal 2030 target for carbon dioxide removals.

Heather Keith, Zoltan Kun, Sonia Hugh, Miroslav Svoboda, Martin Mikoláš, Dusan Adam, Dmitry Bernatski, Viorel Blujdea, Friedrich Bohn, Jesús Julio Camarero, László Demeter, Alfredo Di Filippo, loan Dutcă, Matteo Garbarino, Ferenc Horváth, Valery Ivkovich, Āris Jansons, Laura Ķēņina, Kamil Král, Dario Martin-Benito, Juan Alberto Molina-Valero, Renzo Motta, Thomas A. Nagel, Momchil Panayotov, César Pérez-Cruzado, Gianluca Piovesan, Cătălin-Constantin Roibu, Pavel Šamonil, Ondřej Vostárek, Maxim Yermokhin, Tzvetan Zlatanov, Brendan Mackey