Reducing emissions from agriculture to meet the 2 °C target

Eva Wollenberg; Meryl  Richards; Pete Smith; Petr  Havlik; Michael Obersteiner; Francesco N. Tubiello; Martin Herold; Pierre Gerber; Sarah Carter; Andrew Reisinger; Detlef P. van Vuuren; Amy Dickie; Henry Neufeldt; Bjoern Ole Sander; Reiner Wassmann; Rolf Sommer; James E. Amonette; Alessandra Falcucci; Mario Herrero; Carolyn Opio; Rosa Maria Roman-Cuesta; Elke Stehfest; Henk Westhoek; Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio; Tek Sapkota; Mariana C. Rufino; Philip K. Thornton; Louis V. Verchot; Paul C. West; Jean-Francois Soussana; Tobias Baedeker; Marc Sadler; Sonja Joy Vermeulen; Bruce Morgan Campbell

doi:10.1111/gcb.13340

Reducing emissions from agriculture to meet the 2 °C target

Eva Wollenberg^*, Meryl Richards, Pete Smith, Petr Havlik, Michael Obersteiner, Francesco N. Tubiello, Martin Herold, Pierre Gerber, Sarah Carter, Andrew Reisinger, Detlef P. van Vuuren, Amy Dickie, Henry Neufeldt, Bjoern Ole Sander, Reiner Wassmann, Rolf Sommer, James E. Amonette, Alessandra Falcucci, Mario Herrero, Carolyn OpioRosa Maria Roman-Cuesta, Elke Stehfest, Henk Westhoek, Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio, Tek Sapkota, Mariana C. Rufino, Philip K. Thornton, Louis V. Verchot, Paul C. West, Jean-Francois Soussana, Tobias Baedeker, Marc Sadler, Sonja Joy Vermeulen, Bruce Morgan Campbell

^*Corresponding author for this work

Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)

152 Citations (Scopus)

128 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

More than 100 countries pledged to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the 2015 Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Yet technical information about how much mitigation is needed in the sector vs. how much is feasible remains poor. We identify a preliminary global target for reducing emissions from agriculture of ~1 GtCO₂e yr⁻¹ by 2030 to limit warming in 2100 to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. Yet plausible agricultural development pathways with mitigation cobenefits deliver only 21–40% of needed mitigation. The target indicates that more transformative technical and policy options will be needed, such as methane inhibitors and finance for new practices. A more comprehensive target for the 2 °C limit should be developed to include soil carbon and agriculture-related mitigation options. Excluding agricultural emissions from mitigation targets and plans will increase the cost of mitigation in other sectors or reduce the feasibility of meeting the 2 °C limit.

Original language	English
Journal	Global Change Biology
Volume	22
Issue number	12
Pages (from-to)	3859-3864
Number of pages	6
ISSN	1354-1013
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13340
Publication status	Published - 2016

Keywords

agriculture
climate change
integrated assessment modeling
mitigation
policy
target
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1111/gcb.13340

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Cite this

Wollenberg, E., Richards, M., Smith, P., Havlik, P., Obersteiner, M., Tubiello, F. N., Herold, M., Gerber, P., Carter, S., Reisinger, A., van Vuuren, D. P., Dickie, A., Neufeldt, H., Sander, B. O., Wassmann, R., Sommer, R., Amonette, J. E., Falcucci, A., Herrero, M., ... Campbell, B. M. (2016). Reducing emissions from agriculture to meet the 2 °C target. Global Change Biology, 22(12), 3859-3864. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13340

Wollenberg, E, Richards, M, Smith, P, Havlik, P, Obersteiner, M, Tubiello, FN, Herold, M, Gerber, P, Carter, S, Reisinger, A, van Vuuren, DP, Dickie, A, Neufeldt, H, Sander, BO, Wassmann, R, Sommer, R, Amonette, JE, Falcucci, A, Herrero, M, Opio, C, Roman-Cuesta, RM, Stehfest, E, Westhoek, H, Ortiz-Monasterio, I, Sapkota, T, Rufino, MC, Thornton, PK, Verchot, LV, West, PC, Soussana, J-F, Baedeker, T, Sadler, M, Vermeulen, SJ & Campbell, BM 2016, 'Reducing emissions from agriculture to meet the 2 °C target', Global Change Biology, vol. 22, no. 12, pp. 3859-3864. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13340

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abstract = "More than 100 countries pledged to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the 2015 Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Yet technical information about how much mitigation is needed in the sector vs. how much is feasible remains poor. We identify a preliminary global target for reducing emissions from agriculture of ~1 GtCO2e yr−1 by 2030 to limit warming in 2100 to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. Yet plausible agricultural development pathways with mitigation cobenefits deliver only 21–40% of needed mitigation. The target indicates that more transformative technical and policy options will be needed, such as methane inhibitors and finance for new practices. A more comprehensive target for the 2 °C limit should be developed to include soil carbon and agriculture-related mitigation options. Excluding agricultural emissions from mitigation targets and plans will increase the cost of mitigation in other sectors or reduce the feasibility of meeting the 2 °C limit.",

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AU - Herold, Martin

AU - Gerber, Pierre

AU - Carter, Sarah

AU - Reisinger, Andrew

AU - van Vuuren, Detlef P.

AU - Dickie, Amy

AU - Neufeldt, Henry

AU - Sander, Bjoern Ole

AU - Wassmann, Reiner

AU - Sommer, Rolf

AU - Amonette, James E.

AU - Falcucci, Alessandra

AU - Herrero, Mario

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AU - Roman-Cuesta, Rosa Maria

AU - Stehfest, Elke

AU - Westhoek, Henk

AU - Ortiz-Monasterio, Ivan

AU - Sapkota, Tek

AU - Rufino, Mariana C.

AU - Thornton, Philip K.

AU - Verchot, Louis V.

AU - West, Paul C.

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