Researchers from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland believe in a new pan-European study that changes in both temperature and precipitation will affect the range of most tree species. According to them, the change would be from 11% to over 28% under the mild scenario, and to more than 40% of the forest land under the extreme scenario.

A team of researchers led by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) published a new pan-European study suggests that the economic value of forests will decline between 14% and 50% due to climate change. Therefore, if measures are not taken to change this, the damage could reach several hundred billion euros. According to a review published by Eurostat in June 2011, forests cover around 40% of the EU27 land area and half the EU27 consumption of renewable energy comes from wood.

Researchers believe that changes in both temperature and precipitation will affect the range of most tree species. According to them, climate change will largely impact tree species distribution within European forests. The slow-growing forests will absorb less carbon than today's forests. The calculated loss, based on interest rate and climate scenario, will range from 14% to 50%, with an average of 28%, of the current value of forest land in Europe.

According to the researchers, under a moderate IPCC climate scenario, the loss could be around €190 billion. The loss could range between €60 billion and €680 billion in all three climate scenarios. Europe will deal with forests with lesser economic value if countermeasures are not introduced, stressed the researchers. One alternative would be to introduce other species into Europe, such as the Atlas Cedar or Douglas Fir.