Forestry biomass | Knowledge for policy

Bioeconomy Knowledge Centre

Brief me

Forestry biomass production within a sustainable and circular bioeconomy (2020).

Forestry has a central role among the biomass producing sectors, providing valuable resources for the EU bioeconomy as well as supporting biodiversity and various ecosystem services.
Forests in the EU cover more than one third of the land area and they have been expanding since 1990, although the rate of expansion is slowing down.
The annual wood harvests in the EU are ca. 570 million m3 (average 2019-2023), corresponding to ca. 75% of the net annual increment.
Over the last decade, the European forestry sector employed on average 514 000 people and produced an annual value added of EUR 31.7 billion (Lasarte-López et al., 2025).
Sustainable wood production implies balancing harvesting with the full range of other forest ecosystem services.

Find out more in the brief and explore further other resources!

Explore further

EU policy related to forests and forestry

Learn more about the policy measures for EU forests.

EU observatory on deforestation and forest degradation

Explore maps and datasets made publicly available by this JRC-managed observatory.

Key publications on forestry biomass

Keep up to date with this collection of publications, giving insights on the status and potential development of the EU forest-based sector.

Infographics and datasets on forestry biomass

Discover how the forest sector contributes to the EU bioeconomy.

The JRC Biomass Mandate

10 years of comprehensive biomass analysis - informing policy to ensure that biomass supply and uses are within ecological limits and EU policy goals.

Stakeholder and expert groups on forestry

Explore platforms and working groups contributing to enhancing the EU forest-related policies.

Overview of projects on forestry biomass

Forest Ecovalue - Alpine Space Programme

Resilient forests for society

Horizon Europe - Project Monifun

Latest knowledge

EVENT | 26 May 2026

Online Workshop on Sustainable Biomass Availability and Mobilisation

The objective of this workshop is to explore how to secure sufficient biomass availability and how to organise (upstream) mobilisation under sustainable conditions, taking into account other functions that have...

EVENT | 20 May 2026

Understanding bioeconomy through biomass data - EU Green Week partner event

This event, presented by the Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy during EU Green Week, will illustrate how the KCB estimates key biomass flows and dynamics to support the implementation...

NEWS | 13 May 2026

Commission publishes simplification review of EU Deforestation Regulation

Today, the Commission published a report on the simplification of the revised EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and a set of further measures for a smooth and effective implementation following the agreement of co-legislators last...