Conversion from coniferous to broadleaved trees can make European forests more climate-effective

verfasst von

Yi Yao, Petra Sieber, Mathias Hauser, Jonas Schwaab, Felix Jäger, Fulden Batibeniz, Meri Räty, Julia Pongratz, Martin Wild, Andrey Lessa Derci Augustynczik, Steven J. De Hertog, Verena C. Griess, Michael G. Windisch, Jun Ge, Alessio Collalti, Fulvio Di Fulvio, Petr Havlík, Sonia I. Seneviratne

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.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Umweltplanung

Externe Organisation(en)

ETH Zürich
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU)
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg
Universiteit Gent
Nanjing University

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Nature Communications

Band

16

ISSN

2041-1723

Publikationsdatum

29.10.2025

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Allgemeine Chemie, Allgemeine Biochemie, Genetik und Molekularbiologie, Allgemein, Allgemeine Physik und Astronomie

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 13 – Klimaschutzmaßnahmen

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64580-y (Zugang: Offen)