Agriculture's contribution to climate change and role in mitigation is distinct from predominantly fossil CO2-emitting sectors
Agriculture is a significant contributor to anthropogenic global warming, and reducing agricultural emissions—largely methane and nitrous oxide—could play a significant role in climate change mitigation. However, there are important differences between carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a stock pollutan...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media
2021
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| _version_ | 1797059391584731136 |
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| author | Lynch, J Cain, M Frame, D Pierrehumbert, R |
| author_facet | Lynch, J Cain, M Frame, D Pierrehumbert, R |
| author_sort | Lynch, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Agriculture is a significant contributor to anthropogenic global warming, and reducing agricultural emissions—largely methane and nitrous oxide—could play a significant role in climate change mitigation. However, there are important differences between carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a stock pollutant, and methane (CH4), which is predominantly a flow pollutant. These dynamics mean that conventional reporting of aggregated CO2-equivalent emission rates is highly ambiguous and does not straightforwardly reflect historical or anticipated contributions to global temperature change. As a result, the roles and responsibilities of different sectors emitting different gases are similarly obscured by the common means of communicating emission reduction scenarios using CO2-equivalence. We argue for a shift in how we report agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and think about their mitigation to better reflect the distinct roles of different greenhouse gases. Policy-makers, stakeholders, and society at large should also be reminded that the role of agriculture in climate mitigation is a much broader topic than climate science alone can inform, including considerations of economic and technical feasibility, preferences for food supply and land-use, and notions of fairness and justice. A more nuanced perspective on the impacts of different emissions could aid these conversations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:03:34Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:282c2abe-b244-4291-abd5-625aa15b6154 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:03:34Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:282c2abe-b244-4291-abd5-625aa15b61542022-03-26T12:11:13ZAgriculture's contribution to climate change and role in mitigation is distinct from predominantly fossil CO2-emitting sectors Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:282c2abe-b244-4291-abd5-625aa15b6154EnglishSymplectic ElementsFrontiers Media2021Lynch, JCain, MFrame, DPierrehumbert, RAgriculture is a significant contributor to anthropogenic global warming, and reducing agricultural emissions—largely methane and nitrous oxide—could play a significant role in climate change mitigation. However, there are important differences between carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a stock pollutant, and methane (CH4), which is predominantly a flow pollutant. These dynamics mean that conventional reporting of aggregated CO2-equivalent emission rates is highly ambiguous and does not straightforwardly reflect historical or anticipated contributions to global temperature change. As a result, the roles and responsibilities of different sectors emitting different gases are similarly obscured by the common means of communicating emission reduction scenarios using CO2-equivalence. We argue for a shift in how we report agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and think about their mitigation to better reflect the distinct roles of different greenhouse gases. Policy-makers, stakeholders, and society at large should also be reminded that the role of agriculture in climate mitigation is a much broader topic than climate science alone can inform, including considerations of economic and technical feasibility, preferences for food supply and land-use, and notions of fairness and justice. A more nuanced perspective on the impacts of different emissions could aid these conversations. |
| spellingShingle | Lynch, J Cain, M Frame, D Pierrehumbert, R Agriculture's contribution to climate change and role in mitigation is distinct from predominantly fossil CO2-emitting sectors |
| title | Agriculture's contribution to climate change and role in mitigation is distinct from predominantly fossil CO2-emitting sectors |
| title_full | Agriculture's contribution to climate change and role in mitigation is distinct from predominantly fossil CO2-emitting sectors |
| title_fullStr | Agriculture's contribution to climate change and role in mitigation is distinct from predominantly fossil CO2-emitting sectors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Agriculture's contribution to climate change and role in mitigation is distinct from predominantly fossil CO2-emitting sectors |
| title_short | Agriculture's contribution to climate change and role in mitigation is distinct from predominantly fossil CO2-emitting sectors |
| title_sort | agriculture s contribution to climate change and role in mitigation is distinct from predominantly fossil co2 emitting sectors |
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