Conversion from coniferous to broadleaved trees can make European forests more climate-effective
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The climate effectiveness of forestation in Europe is debated, as it may provide more warming via solar energy absorption than evaporative cooling. Since forests play an important role in European climate policy, it is necessary to explore potential solutions to this issue in a warmer world. Here, based on experiments conducted with a regional climate model under several forest change scenarios, we find that conversion from coniferous to broadleaved trees in currently forested areas can provide cooling for summer hot extremes (e.g., reducing the monthly mean daily maximum temperature in July over Continental Europe by 0.6 °C). The conversion can also mitigate the undesired warming impacts of forestation with present-day forest composition in most of Europe, e.g., reversing effects on the monthly mean daily maximum temperature in July over Continental Europe from +0.3 °C to −0.7 °C. This study highlights the importance of considering tree species in European forest policy development and suggests that the Northern and Central regions should be prioritised for forestation over the Western and Southern parts.
DOI: 10.48620/92190
Authors: Yao, Yi, Sieber, Petra, Hauser, Mathias, Schwaab, Jonas, Jäger, Felix, Batibeniz, Fulden, Räty, Meri, Pongratz, Julia, Wild, Martin, Lessa Derci Augustynczik, Andrey, De Hertog, Steven J., Griess, Verena C., Windisch, Michael G., Ge, Jun, Collalti, Alessio, Di Fulvio, Fulvio, Havlík, Petr, Seneviratne, Sonia I.
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDGs: Climate action, Life on land
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7104028160
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