Italian forests have increases in size and their capacity to absorb CO2, a report out Wednesday said. In the last 10 years, said the Carabinieri's national inventory on forest carbon reservoirs, the national wooded surface area has risen by around 587,000 hectares to a total of some 11 million hectares.

The forest biomass is up 18.4% in that time, the report said. This has enabled Italian woods and forests to absorb 290 million more tonnes of CO2. The report, complied with the help of environmental group CREA, was said to be a "green thermometer" able to gauge the state of vitality of Italian forests and their contribution to bringing down the planet's fever from the climate crisis.