What needs to happen for Europe's forests to deliver on the EU's climate and biodiversity goals for 2050? Three EU-funded research projects – ForestNavigator, ForestPaths, and PathFinder – share their visions for possible answers in the form of forest-based policy pathways to 2050 with Frans Timmermans, the principal architect of the EU Green Deal, joining the online session of the fourth edition of the Forest Talks webinar series.

The webinar, which takes place on Tuesday 17 November 2026 from 10:00 to 12:15 CET, will explore the forest management and policy shifts necessary for Europe’s forests to meet the ambitious climate and biodiversity goals set out in the EU Green Deal while ensuring socioeconomic sustainability. Following a keynote address by Frans Timmermans, former Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and EU Climate Chief, and Dutch Foreign Minister, the three projects will present results based on more than four years of research funded through the EU Horizon Europe programme. The event is chaired by Robert Mavsar, Director of the European Forest Institute.

Results from the three projects show the diverse and complementary pathways taken by each project to answer this fundamental question:

• ForestPaths will share visions and policy pathways for European forests to 2050 and main findings and conclusions, presented by project coordinator Hans Verkerk (EFI).

• ForestNavigator will describe four policy-relevant storylines, results on synergies, trade-offs and uncertainties, and policy recommendations, presented by project co-coordinator Fulvio Di Fulvio (IIASA) and Julia Bognar (IEEP).

• PathFinder will introduce an integrative framework for developing sustainable transition pathways, with an example for Spain, presented by Daniel Di Marzo (University of Freiburg).

Participants will help shape the conclusions. In a 30-minute interactive segment, the audience will use live polling to explore their own views on the actions the three projects identify towards the climate and biodiversity targets, while ensuring socioeconomic sustainability.

Forest Talks is a joint webinar series of ForestNavigator, ForestPaths, and PathFinder projects, aimed at exploring synergies and sharing findings from EU-funded research. The Forest Talks webinar series concludes in December with the final edition.

Register here.