Anthony, Steven G.

Cardenas, Laura M.

Chadwick, David R.

Misselbrook, Tom H.

Moorby, Jon

Rees, Robert

Topp, Kairsty

English

Aberystwyth Research Portal

Aberystwyth UniversityImproving agricultural inventories of GHG emissions: A UK case studyRees, Robert; Misselbrook, Tom H.; Cardenas, Laura M.; Topp, Kairsty; Anthony, Steven G.; Moorby, Jon;Chadwick, David R.Publication date:2016Citation for published version (APA):Rees, R., Misselbrook, T. H., Cardenas, L. M., Topp, K., Anthony, S. G., Moorby, J., & Chadwick, D. R. (2016).Improving agricultural inventories of GHG emissions: A UK case study. Paper presented at II InternationalSymposium on Greenhouse Gases in Agriculture, Campo Grande, Brazil.General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the Aberystwyth Research Portal (the Institutional Repository) areretained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by thelegal requirements associated with these rights.            • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the Aberystwyth Research Portal for the purpose of private study orresearch.            • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain            • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the Aberystwyth Research PortalTake down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.tel: +44 1970 62 2400email: is@aber.ac.ukDownload date: 09. Jul. 2020  Improving agricultural inventories of GHG emissions: A UK case study  Robert M Rees1, Tom Misselbrook2, Laura Cardenas2, Kairsty Topp1, Steven Anthony3, Jon Moorby4, Dave Chadwick5 1 Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH93JG, UK 2 Rothamsted Research, North Wyke, Devon, EX20 2SB, UK  3 ADAS Group Ltd, Pendeford House, Pendeford Business Park, Wolverhampton WV9 5AP, UK 4 Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Gogerddan, Aberystwyth SY23 3EE, UK. 5 School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2UW, UK Email: Bob.Rees@sruc.ac.uk  Introduction The UK is committed to ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Under the Climate Change act of 2008 there is a long-term legally binding requirement to reduce national emissions by at least 80% below the 1990 baseline by 2050, with interim reductions of at least 34% by 2020.  Agricultural emissions made up 9% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in 2014, and these are associated with some of the highest uncertainties in national inventory reports (DECC 2016). For this reason a large programme of research has been undertaken in the UK in order to reduce uncertainties associated with agricultural greenhouse gas reporting and to support the development of mitigation actions. This has involved a co-ordinated programme of research to quantify emissions of nitrous oxide from fertilisers and livestock wastes, and enteric methane emissions, the Greenhouse Gas Platform.  Work is also being undertaken to improve reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from the Land Use Land Use Change and Forestry sector. Highlights of this research and the implications for national inventory reporting are presented.  Materials and Methods Nitrous oxide emissions were measured from the range of nitrogen sources that are added to soils under contrasting soil and climatic conditions across the UK.  Experiments used standard protocols for experimental design, measurements, data handling and statistical analysis.  Measurements of methane emissions from livestock (focusing on cattle and sheep) were used to generate Emission Factors that were representative of different breeds and systems and assess the effect of nutrition (basal forages, concentrates supplements and feed additives). A parallel process of verification and modelling of the data obtained from these research activities was undertaken. Greenhouse gas emissions are also reported from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). IPCC guidelines (IPCC, 2006) are currently used to report emissions resulting from land use change and a study is being carried out to determine whether this reporting can be extended to include cropland and grassland management.  Results and Conclusions Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture have remained relatively constant over the past five years, despite significant reductions of emissions in other sectors (Table 1).  This places increased pressure agriculture to reduce emissions if overall emission reduction targets are to be met.     Table 1. UK greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture (Mt CO2e) National Inventory Report).  1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2013 2014 Carbon dioxide 7.0 7.1 5.7 5.6 5.2 5.3 5.3 Methane 32.6 32.0 30.8 28.7 27.2 27.0 27.4 Nitrous oxide 19.2 19.0 18.0 16.6 15.9 15.8 16.3 Total 58.7 58.1 54.6 50.9 48.3 48.1 49.1  The Greenhouse Gas Platform research has provided improved understanding of emissions from agricultural sources. The observed nitrous oxide Emission Factor (EF1 is the proportion of N2O derived from a nitrogen source) for fertilisers applied to grasslands was 1.3 %, however, the Emission Factor for fertiliser applied to arable crops ranged between 0.5-0.8 % (depending on the nitrogen source) which is below the 1% Tier 1 default value.  Nitrous oxide emissions from grazing returns by cattle were also significantly lower than default IPCC values with Emission Factors from dung of 0.2%, and urine of 0.7%, giving a combined weighted Emission Factor of 0.5% (as compared with the default Emission Factor from these sources of 2%).  These new Tier 2 nitrous oxide Emission Factors are currently being applied to the UK’s inventory reports increasing the relative importance of methane as a greenhouse gas (Fig. 1).  Enteric methane emissions from beef cattle and sheep, showed a limited effect of breed and breed type on emissions.  There was a much greater effect of diet type, with animals consuming more higher-quality (lowland) forage than poorer-quality (upland) forages and consequently producing more methane each day on the better quality feeds.  This research provided validation of the Tier 2 Emission Factors used to report methane emissions from UK livestock.   Figure 1. Relative importance of UK agricultural greenhouse gases in inventory reports for 2015 and 2016.     Greenhouse gas emissions from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry were responsible for an annual uptake of 9 Mt CO2e in 2014, mostly from the forestry sector. Research is currently being undertaken to establish opportunities to report carbon sequestration by the managment of grasslands remaining grasslands and croplands remaining croplands. Early indications would suggest that this will have only a minor impact on overall greenhouse gas emissions and removals from the agriculture and LULUCF sectors.  This research highlights the importance of the non-CO2 greenhouse gases in contributing to emissions from agricultural production, and provides improved opportunities to mitigation actions that will deliver further emissions reductions.  References  DECC 2016. 2014 UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Final Figures. Department of Energy and Climate Change, London.  IPCC 2006. IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories; Prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme. IPCC, Japan.  Acknowledgements Financial support is gratefully acknowledged from the U.K.’s Department for the Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Biological and Biotechnological Research Council (BBSRC), the National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Scottish Government. 

Improving agricultural inventories of GHG emissions: A UK case study

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Improving agricultural inventories of GHG emissions: A UK case study

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