MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Effectiveness and promotion of EU initiative to plant 3 billion trees by 2030 – E-001310/2025

Question for written answer  E-001310/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Marcin Sypniewski (ESN)

The European Commission’s initiative to plant 3 billion trees by 2030, with the support of the European Environment Agency (EEA), aims to increase forest coverage in the EU, improve citizens’ quality of life and increase CO₂ removals. However, only 24 million trees have been planted as of March 2025, a mere 0.8 % of the target. Only 70 000 trees have been planted in Poland (0.03 % of the national target). Civil society organisations have reported issues such as ineffective promotion of the project, limited funding and a lack of national coordinators.

Taking the above into consideration:

• 1.What steps is the Commission planning to take to accelerate progress towards this goal, especially in countries that have made minimal progress, and is it considering extending the programme beyond 2030 in order to make reaching the goal possible?
• 2.What are the total and annual budgets allocated to the project’s implementation, what exactly were the available funds used for, and is the Commission planning to mobilise extra funds to support local initiatives?
• 3.Is the Commission planning to appoint national coordinators for the project and to launch pilot programmes, in cooperation with civil society organisations, in order to implement and monitor the programme at EU level?

Submitted: 28.3.2025