A real options analysis of Australian wheat production under climate change

A significant portion of the world's agricultural systems currently operate at the extreme end of the climate conditions that are considered to be suitable for crop and livestock production. Under these conditions, even moderate climate changes are anticipated to drive substantial transformational changes to agricultural systems. Transformations require new investments and infrastructure and can leave some assets stranded. These transformations can be partially or wholly irreversible and hysteresis effects can make switching difficult and mistakes costly to reverse. This paper demonstrates how a real options decision framework, Real Options for Adaptive Decisions (ROADs), can be used to investigate how uncertainties about the climate affect the adaptation and transformation of agricultural systems. By building upon recent developments in the mathematics of stochastic optimization, we extend traditional economic analyses of agricultural investment decisions based on net present values to better represent incomplete knowledge and uncertainty. We report results from a case study in South Australia that describes the transition pathways farmers might follow as their industries are transformed in response to climate change.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-84892018-01-31hb201

The carbon impact of short-haul tourism: A case study of UK travel to Southern France using life cycle analysis

Tourism holds a significant share in the global carbon footprint. Transportation to the destination is recognized as the primary contributor, although its contribution can be less dominant in the context of short-haul travel. Previous studies do not provide a critical comparative analysis of how changes in travel behaviour, notably modal shift, affect the total carbon impacts from short-haul holidays; nor do they explore the relative contribution of the specific elements of the holiday product or account for global variations when measuring those contributions. This paper presents a carbon impact assessment case study of short-haul tourism to Southern France by British tourists. It applies an advanced, Life Cycle Assessment-based, method of evaluation, the hybrid DEFRA-LCA (Ecoinvent) approach, which is capable of appraising both the direct and the embodied 'indirect' greenhouse gas emissions. The principal finding supports the traditional view that transportation generates the largest carbon footprint and that the most significant carbon savings can be achieved by switching from air and car-based travel to train and coach. However, the study also indicates that if tourists stay at the destination longer, and travel to the destination by train or coach, the destination-based elements of the holiday can make a large carbon contribution and even outweigh the share of the transit element. The Life Cycle Assessment also shows that the 'indirect' greenhouse gas emissions from tourism in Southern France are significant, thus emphasizing the importance of their incorporation into future carbon impact appraisals. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Global Comparison of Existing Soil Carbon Codes Using a Structured Analytical Framework, 2021-2022

An analytical framework for the systematic comparison of existing soil carbon codes, which could be applied to the analysis of codes in other land uses and habitats. The data includes an application of the framework to identify commonalities and differences in methods, projects, administration and commercialisation and associated code documents for 12 publicly available codes from the UK, France, Australia, USA and international bodies.The development of the UK Soil & Farm Carbon (SFCC) code has the potential to unlock carbon investments for building soil organic matter and ecological recovery of soils, which will deliver multiple benefits as outline in the 25-Year Environment Plan and aid economic recovery post covid. Our pilot proposal will generate immediate and long-term carbon offset opportunities for farming businesses to monetise the carbon sequestration by catalysing the development of standards for the code's development in line with the Woodland Carbon Code and Peatland Code. We will test and demonstrate the sale of carbon offsets generated from a popular restorative farming practice: planting herbal leys (diverse mixes of grasses, legume and herbs) into arable and suitable pasture land across 20 farms in Gloucestershire (farm holdings totaling 10,000Has). The initial pilot will focus on 100 Has expected to improve soil organic carbon stocks by 300 tonnes per year creating a total carbon conservative offset value of £60,000 over 10 years. We will evaluate existing carbon removal market protocols and compare for suitability for soil carbon projects and value to UK farmers. Our findings will be published to support future soil carbon offset projects and used to transact with investors.</p