Leader: Andis Lazdiņš
Start date: 13.04.2024
End date: 30.11.2024

Rural Support Service of the Ministry of Agriculture of Latvia agreement No. 24-00-S0INZ03-000033

The study is financed in accordance with Cabinet of Ministers regulations No. 59 "Procedure for awarding state and European Union support for investment promotion in agriculture".

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the measures to be implemented in order to achieve the climate change mitigation goals of the Latvian LULUCF sector for the reduction of GHG emissions and the promotion of carbon dioxide (CO2) removals in forest management and to develop several scenarios that would contribute to the achievement of climate neutrality goals in this sector. The data submitted by the farmers and forest owners on the implementation of measures shall be used in the calculations.

As part of the research, we will improve the equations that describe the potential of climate change mitigation measures in the LULUCF sector, including testing the equations for characterizing soil carbon turnover; we will assess the effectiveness of the nature restoration regulation's impact on the LULUCF sector's climate change mitigation goals for the reduction of GHG emissions and the promotion of CO2 removals in forest management; we will prepare an assessment of the effect of actions to be implemented to achieve the climate change mitigation goals of the LULUCF sector; we will describe the substitution effect that the activities implemented in the LULUCF sector will create in the energy sector. As part of the research, we will contribute to elaboration of modelling tools and software for assessing and forecasting the effect of activities, including at the level of a single forest stands. We will use the solutions developed in the study to improve the national GHG inventory in the LULUCF sector, including the validation of soil carbon cycle modelling results, as well as to improve the National Energy and Climate Plan and other forecast reports on the progress of the LULUCF sector towards climate neutrality.