Overview
- Researchers at the Technical University of Munich published continent-wide analyses in early August 2026 that combine Landsat tree‑cover loss maps with a high-resolution 2019 biomass map to measure how much aboveground biomass was lost each year from 1985–2023.
- The studies identify a clear breakpoint around 2018, after which the amount of biomass lost per hectare rose by an average of 46 percent compared with 1985–2017, driven mainly by severe droughts, windstorms and mass spruce bark beetle outbreaks.
- From 1985–2023 Europe lost an estimated 6.5 billion tonnes of aboveground biomass, with about 82 percent of that from harvesting and 18 percent from natural disturbances, though the share and severity of disturbance losses increased sharply after 2018.
- The rise in disturbance-driven losses has reduced forest carbon uptake: complementary projections estimate about a 39 percent drop in Europe's forest carbon sink for 2010–2030 and assessments show much lower CO2 storage during 2020–2022 than in the early 2010s.
- Authors say policy and management must change — including lowering harvest pressure, shifting species and improving landscape resilience — so regrowth can keep pace with more frequent climate-driven disturbances and preserve forests' role in meeting EU climate targets.