Decline in carbon emission intensity of global agriculture has stagnated recently-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Decline in carbon emission intensity of global agriculture has stagnated recently

Published:2024-08-12 Issue:34 Volume:121 Page:
ISSN:0027-8424
Container-title:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
language:en
Short-container-title:Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Author:

Bai Zhaohai¹^ORCID,Zhang Nannan¹,Winiwarter Wilfried²³^ORCID,Luo Jiafa⁴^ORCID,Chang Jinfeng⁵^ORCID,Smith Pete⁶^ORCID,Ledgard Stewart⁴^ORCID,Wu Yan⁷,Hong Chaopeng⁸^ORCID,Conchedda Giulia⁹,Ma Lin¹¹⁰

Affiliation:

1. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Hebei Key Laboratory of Soil Ecology, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050022, Hebei, China

2. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg A-2361, Austria

3. The Institute of Environmental Engineering, University of Zielona Góra, Zielona Góra 65-417, Poland

4. AgResearch Limited, Ruakura Research Centre, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand

5. College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

6. Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, United Kingdom

7. Hangzhou City University, Hangzhou 310015, China

8. Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China

9. Statistics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome 00153, Italy

10. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, Jiangsu, China

Abstract

Using global data for around 180 countries and territories and 170 food/feed types primarily derived from FAOSTAT, we have systematically analyzed the changes in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity (GHG i ) (kg CO 2eq per kg protein production) over the past six decades. We found that, with large spatial heterogeneity, emission intensity decreased by nearly two-thirds from 1961 to 2019, predominantly in the earlier years due to agronomic improvement in productivity. However, in the most recent decade, emission intensity has become stagnant, and in a few countries even showed an increase, due to the rapid increase in livestock production and land use changes. The trade of final produced protein between countries has potentially reduced the global GHG i , especially for countries that are net importers with high GHG i , such as many in Africa and South Asia. Overall, a continuous decline of emission intensity in the future relies on countries with higher emission intensity to increase agricultural productivity and minimize land use changes. Countries with lower emission intensity should reduce livestock production and increase the free trade of agricultural products and improve the trade optimality.

Funder

MOST | National Natural Science Foundation of China

Publisher

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Link

https://pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2317725121

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