Non-C02 greenhouse gases; all gases count

Under the Kyoto Protocol, a group of countries commit themselves to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases to some 5% below the 1990 level. Countries can decide to spread their reduction commitment over several gases to lower compliance costs. Employing a multi-gas strategy can offer considerable efficiency gains because of the widely diverging marginal abatement cost for the different emission sources. In this Discussion Paper, the analysis of climate policy for the most important greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is extended with two other important greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide. The multi-region and multi-sector Applied General Equilibrium model WorldScan has been used as an instrument for addressing this issue. The approach presented is consistent with the bottom-up information on reduction possibilities for those non-CO2 greenhouse gases while it allows for general equilibrium effects and intergas interactions. Including non-CO2 greenhouse gases into the analysis has important sectoral impacts while the regional effects are limited. A considerable part of the burden on gas, coal and oil products will be shifted to the agricultural sectors. Reductions of non-CO2 gases could be especially important for countries like China and India.

Mutual Dependence between Sustainable Energy- and Sustainable Agriculture Policies-from the Global and European Perspective

Agriculture is one of the economic sectors to which the EU commitment to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases applies. Like any other economic sector, agriculture produces greenhouse gases and is a major source of the non- CO2 greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide. It is also the strong relationship between the sustainable agriculture sector and the renewable energy development possibilities. The sustainable agriculture can be seen as a source of renewable energy

The economics of greenhouse gas accumulation: A simulation approach

This article investigates efficient policies against global warming in the case of multiple greenhouse gases. In a dynamic optimization model conditions for an efficient combination of greenhouse gases are derived. The model is empirically specified and adapted to a simulation approach. By various simulation runs, the economics of greenhouse gas accumulation are illuminated; and in particular, it is shown that a CO2-policy alone would most likely lead to an allocation far from efficiency. These results indicate, that policy measures against global warming should allow for substituting between different greenhouse gases. Such a policy would mainly affect the agricultural sector because livestock and intensive farming techniques contribute significantly to the emission of greenhouse gases.

Mitigating Greenhouse Gases in Agriculture

Climate change has severe adverse effects on the livelihood of millions of the world’s poorest people. Increasing temperatures, water scarcity and droughts, flooding and storms affect food security. Thus, mitigation actions are needed to pave the way for a sustainable future for all. Currently, agriculture directly contributes about 10-15 percent to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Adding emissions from deforestation and land use change for animal feed production, this rises to about 30 percent. Scenarios predict a significant rise in agricultural emissions without effective mitigation actions. Given all the efforts undertaken in other sectors, agriculture would then become the single largest emitter within some decades, and without mitigation in agriculture, ambitious goals, such as keeping global warming below two degrees may become impossible to reach. The main agricultural emission sources are nitrous oxide from soils and methane from enteric fermentation in ruminants. In addition, conversion of native vegetation and grasslands to arable agriculture releases large amounts of CO2 from the vegetation and from soil organic matter. The main mitigation potential lies in soil carbon sequestration and preserving the existing soil carbon in arable soils. Nitrous oxide emissions can be reduced by reduced nitrogen application, but much still remains unclear about the effect different fertilizer types and management practices have on these emissions. Methane emissions from ruminants can only be reduced significantly by a reduction in animal numbers. Sequestration, finally, can be enhanced by conservative management practices, crop rotation with legumes (grass-clover) leys and application of organic fertilizers. An additional issue of importance are storage losses of food in developing and food wastage in developed countries (each about 30-40 percent of end products). Thus, there are basically five broad categories of mitigation actions in agriculture and its broader context: zz reducing direct and indirect emissions from agriculture; zz increasing carbon sequestration in agricultural soils; zz changing human dietary patterns towards more climate friendly food consumption, in particular less animal products; zz reducing storage losses and food wastage; zz the option of bioenergy needs to be mentioned, but depending on the type of bioenergy several negative side-effects may occur, including effects on food security, biodiversity and net GHG emissions. Although there are many difficulties in the details of mitigation actions in agriculture, a paradigm of climate friendly agriculture based on five principles can be derived from the knowledge about agricultural emissions and carbon sequestration: zz Climate friendly agriculture has to account for tradeoffs and choose system boundaries adequately; zz it has to account for synergies and adopt a systemic approach; zz aspects besides mitigation such as adaptation and food security are of crucial importance; zz it has to account for uncertainties and knowledge gaps, and zz the context beyond the agricultural sector has to be taken into account, in particular food consumption and waste patterns. Regarding policies to implement such a climate friendly agriculture, not much is yet around. In climate policy, agriculture only plays a minor role and negotiations proceed only very slowly on this topic. In agricultural policy climate change mitigation currently plays an insignificant role. In both contexts, some changes towards combined approaches can be expected over the next decade. Its 13 is essential that climate policy adequately captures the special characteristics of the agricultural sector. Policies with outcomes that endanger other aspects of agriculture such as food security or ecology have to be avoided. Agriculture delivers much more than options for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and serving as a CO2 sink. We close this report with recommendations for the five most important goals to be realized in the context of mitigation and agriculture and proposals for concrete actions. First, soil organic carbon levels have to be preserved and, if possible, increased. Governments should include soil carbon sequestration in their mitigation and adaptation strategies and the climate funds should take a strong position on supporting such practices. Second, the implementation of closed nutrient cycles and optimal use of biomass has to be supported. Again, governments and funds should act on this. Policy instruments for nitrate regulation are a good starting point for this. As a third and most effective goal, we propose changes in food consumption and waste patterns. Without a switch to attitudes characterized by sufficiency, there is a danger that all attempts for mitigation remain futile. Finally, there are two goals for research, namely to develop improved knowledge on nitrous oxide dynamics, and on methods for assessment of multi-functional farming systems. Without this, adequate policy instruments for climate friendly agriculture and an optimal further development of it are not possible

Climate-friendly food

Climate change is without doubt one of the greatest challenges mankind has ever faced. This is not least due to the enormous consequences that climate change will have for the world’s ecosystems and for our living conditions. At the same time, climate change is a colossal political problem, in which the world’s democracies run the risk not being able to carry out the decisions that have to be made. The political and democratic problem builds on the very limited understanding that there is a connection between emissions of greenhouse gases, climate change and their impact on the living conditions of individual people. In reality, there is both a spatial and a temporal separation between emissions and effects. The world’s industrialised countries, which emit by far the largest amount of greenhouse gases, are in the first instance the least vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In addition, serious effects will first occur much later (decades to centuries) than the emissions. Therefore it can be very difficult to generate popular backing for serious initiatives against emissions of greenhouse gases. Agriculture and food production play an important role in this connection due to the importance of climate change for agriculture’s production basis and because it is one of the sectors emitting most greenhouse gases. For agriculture, the climate challenge is therefore double – it must both adapt to the changes and at the same time reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases

Methane, CFCs, and Other Greenhouse Gases

Our planet is continuously bathed in solar radiation. Although we who are confined to a fixed location on the globe experience day and night, the earth does not. It is always day in the sense that the sun is shining on half of the globe. Much of the incoming solar radiation, about 30%, is scattered back to space by clouds, atmospheric gases and particles, and objects on the earth. The remaining 70% is, therefore, absorbed mostly at the earth's surface. This absorbed radiation gives up its energy to whatever absorbed it, thereby causing its temperature to increase. Because solar radiation is absorbed continuously by the earth, it might be supposed that its temperature should continue to increase. It does not, of course, because the earth also emits radiation, the spectral distribution of which is quite different from that of the incoming solar radiation. The higher the earth's temperature, the more infrared radiation it emits. At a sufficiently high temperature, the total rate of emission of infrared radiation equals the rate of absorption of solar radiation. Radiative equilibrium has been achieved, although it is a dynamic equilibrium: absorption and emission go on continuously at equal rates. The temperature at which this occurs is called the radiative equilibrium temperature of the earth. This is an average temperature, not the temperature at any one location or at any one time. It is merely the temperature that the earth, as a blackbody, must have in order to emit as much radiant energy as the earth absorbs solar energy

Proceedings...

Anais e resumos dos trabalhos apresentados na II SIGEE.bitstream/item/152904/1/Second-International-Symposium-II-SIGEE.pdfCoordenador: Roberto Giolo de Almeida. Organizadores: Patrícia Perondi Anchão Oliveira; Maurício Saito; Cleber Oliveira Soares; Lucas Galvan; Lucimara Chiari; Fabiana Villa Alves; Davi José Bungenstab

Organic farming and the challenges of climate change

Climate change is without question one of the largest challenges that humankind has ever faced. This is not the least due to the enormous consequences that climate change will have for ecosystems and human society. Unfortunately, climate change also poses a very difficult problem for politicians to deal with. The core of the problem affecting modern democracies is that most people experience very little relationship between greenhouse gas emissions, climate change and their everyday life. There is both a temporal and spatial separation between emissions and impacts of climate change. The industrialized countries, which currently emit most of the greenhouse gases, are in general the least vulnerable to climate change effects. Additionally, many of the detrimental effects of climate change will happen far later (decades to centuries) than the greenhouse gas emissions. It is therefore difficult to achieve substantial popular support for necessary and effective measures to mitigate climate change. Agriculture and food production plays an important role in this connection due to the importance of climate change for agriculture’s production basis and because of the large emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture. For agriculture, the climate change challenge is therefore double – it must both adapt to the changes and at the same time reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases

From SO2 to Greenhouse Gases: Trends and Events Shaping Future Emissions Trading Programs in the United States

Cap-and-trade programs have become widely accepted for the control of conventional air pollution in the United States. However, there is still no political consensus to use these programs to address greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, in the wake of the success of the U.S. SO2 and NOx trading programs, private companies, state governments, and the European Union are developing new trading programs or other initiatives that may set precedents for a future national U.S. greenhouse gas trading scheme. This paper summarizes the literature on the “lessons learned” from the SO2 trading program for greenhouse gas trading, including lessons about the potential differences in design that may be necessary because of the different sources, science, mitigation options, and economics inherent in greenhouse gases. The paper discusses how the programs and initiatives mentioned above have been shaped by lessons from past trading programs and whether they are making changes to the SO2 model to address greenhouse gases. Finally, the paper concludes with an assessment of the implications of these initiatives for a future U.S. national greenhouse gas trading program.climate change, emissions trading, European Union, U.S. states, corporate environmentalism

Understanding Greenhouse Gases

Students will conduct hands-on experiments to see how greenhouse gases interact with the Earth’s atmosphere and how greenhouse gases affect temperature. This lesson introduces National Geographic’s Geo-Inquiry Process, where students will identify a Geo-inquiry question, collect data, and create a project around the answer to their question. Students will then present their findings to their peers and evaluate their Geo-Inquiry process