From CO₂ to Biodiversity: Boschi E.ON on Repubblica Green and Blue

A forest does far more than absorb carbon dioxide. But how do we make everything else visible?

In the article “Il valore dei boschi si misura: dalla CO₂ alla biodiversità, la nuova frontiera del verde” (The value of forests can be measured: from CO₂ to biodiversity, the new frontier of green), published on Repubblica Green and Blue on 23 October 2026, the new phase of Boschi E.ON takes centre stage. Launched by E.ON Italia in 2011, the project has created 70 forests across Italy. Today, together with LAND Italia, it moves from forestation to the measurement of ecosystem services, through digital tools and an approach based on Natural Capital Accounting.

To do so, LAND analysed 20 sample forests, chosen among the 70 for their size, vegetation and location, from riparian woodlands to Mediterranean habitats and small urban forests. The analysis looks at what these places offer today and how their benefits could grow through to 2050: not only over 63,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent stored, but also oxygen produced, cleaner air, shade and rainwater managed. These are estimates, not results already achieved, and they refer only to the sample sites.

Ten of these forests can be explored on Ecoverse, LAND’s Nature Intelligence platform, to see how their benefits evolve as they grow.

For LAND, this is what it means to recognise forests as natural infrastructure: knowing their functions to evaluate interventions, identify opportunities for improvement and plan new actions.

Because understanding what a forest does is the first step to protecting it and to designing the next one.