FAO estimates of net forest emissions and removals, 1990–2025

Abstract

FAO officially collects, analyzes and disseminates forest data by country via the Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) program since the late 1950s. Since 2015, FAO uses a subset of the FRA data, namely forest area and carbon stocks, to compute and disseminate in FAOSTAT net forest emissions/removals estimates, as part of its efforts to assess emissions from agrifood systems. This paper presents the most recent update of the FAO net emission/removal estimates, based on estimates of carbon stock change from all pools, i.e., above- and below-ground living biomass, litter, dead wood and soils, covering over 200 countries and territories for the period 1990–2025. Results show that forests acted globally as net carbon sinks since the 2000s, on average ranging from −1.0 to -2.3GtCO2yr-1 over the most recent decade 2015–2025. This net flux was a result of substantial carbon removals on forest land over the same period, ranging from −3.8 to -6.1GtCO2yr-1, only partially counterbalanced by emissions from net forest loss of 2.8–3.8 Gt CO 2  yr −1  – used herein as a proxy of deforestation. Annex I (AI) and non-Annex I (NAI) countries contributed equally to the estimated forest removals, whereas 90 % of emissions from net forest loss were generated in NAI countries. Comparisons of the FAO estimates with data submitted independently by countries to the United Nations Framework Convention (UNFCCC), as well as with output from the Global Carbon Budget, showed good agreement at global, AI and NAI levels, including for major forest countries. At the same time, important discrepancies between FAO, UNFCCC and global carbon model data were identified in about a dozen countries. Improved convergence of evidence is achievable through dedicated statistical development programs in specific countries, to support international implementation and monitoring of effective climate mitigation actions. The FAO estimates and country data collected from UNFCCC were disseminated in FAOSTAT for 194 countries and 42 territories, with regional and global aggregates, in annual time-series covering the period 1990–2025. They were made available as open access at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20085666 (Tubiello and Obli-Laryea, 2026).