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News in brief IIASA researchers have led the development of guidance for EU member states estimating greenhouse gas emissions and removals from their forests. Member states agreed to include greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) within the EU’s 2030 climate targets, as part of the Paris Agreement, so countries must now report them. The document, written by a team led by IIASA researcher Nicklas Forsell, provides the first technical guidelines for EU member states. It will support decision makers in calculating their baseline projection of forestry greenhouse gas emissions and removals for the period 2021- 2030, known as the Forest Reference Level (FRL), and reporting their National Forestry Accounting Plans, which explain the calculation of the FRL and the country’s long-term forest strategy. The FRL expressed in metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year, will be used as a baseline to which future emissions and removals will be compared. The FRL is based on a country’s historical forest management practices. The effects of new management policies such as conserving existing forests and increased production of wood-based products to replace carbon-intensive ones, will be compared with the FRL. The guidance document includes a variety of different, practical estimation and reporting methods to allow for different member states’ circumstances. China, like many countries, is moving from coal to natural gas to address severe air pollution. Although such a switch generally has benefits for air quality, carbon mitigation, and water stress, a new study reveals that some options may actually increase emissions and water consumption. A team of researchers from IIASA, Princeton University, and the University of Maryland are the first to analyze the interactions between air quality, carbon emissions, and water use in both energy production and consumption. The researchers combined life cycle analysis with an integrated environmental impact assessment. Compared to five other sources of national and imported gas, coal- based synthetic natural gas increases emissions and water consumption, particularly in China’s northwestern provinces, which already have high carbon emissions and water scarcity. The degree of improvement depends on the region and sector. Regions with high air pollution and regions with high water stress generally do not overlap, and sectors emitting high levels of pollutants are not the same as those with high water demand, so the trade-offs and benefits are different. “Our findings show why it is critical to understand the underlying air- carbon-water synergies and trade-offs so that China and other developing countries can properly design clean energy transition pathways according to their local environmental priorities,” says Yue Qin, a Princeton researcher and alumna of the 2016 IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program. Written by: Helen Tunnicliffe Assessing the role of forestry in achieving climate commitments Further info: Qin Y, Höglund-Isaksson L, Byers E, Feng K, Wagner F, Peng W, Mauzerall DL (2018). Air Quality-Carbon-Water Synergies and Trade- offs in China’s Natural Gas Industry. Nature Sustainability [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15451] Fabian Wagner: wagnerf@iiasa.ac.at Further info: Forsell N, Korosuo A, Federici S, Gusti M, Rincón Cristóbal JJ, Rüter S, Sánchez Jiménez B, Dore C, et al. (2018). Guidance on developing and reporting the Forest Reference Levels in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/841 [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15375] Nicklas Forsell: forsell@iiasa.ac.at Written by: Helen Tunnicliffe China’s energy policies must balance air quality, emissions, and water scarcity goals 4 www.iiasa.ac.atOptions Winter 2018/19