UN report finds agriculture to play a key role in fighting climate change

Brody Serravalli
Tue, 19 Apr 2022 00:49:30 +0000
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A new report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggests that land use industries like agriculture will be key to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions over the next 30 years. Credit: courtesy the IPCC

Major shifts in the agricultural, forestry and land use sectors could be integral to mitigating global greenhouse gas emissions, according to research co-authored by an Ohio State professor for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.?

The panel’s latest report, published April 11, indicates that climate mitigation efforts, such as reforestation and soil carbon sequestration — a process in which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored in the soil carbon pool — could limit the rise of global temperatures and help achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. This was a goal set by the 2015 Paris Climate Accords — an international treaty on climate change.

Brent Sohngen, a professor of environmental and resource economics and a lead author of the report’s section on agriculture, forestry and land use, said the land use sector is in a unique position to not only mitigate emissions but also reduce greenhouse gasses already in the atmosphere. He said scientists can use biological processes like photosynthesis to mitigate climate change.

“We have to use land-based climate mitigation because, right now, it’s the most economical opportunity we have to suck carbon out of the atmosphere,” Sohngen said.?

Reduced land cultivation, the adoption of biofuels and an increased use of cover crops — plants that are intended to cover soil, rather than being harvested — are just some of the methods outlined by the report to mitigate the environmental impact of land-use-driven greenhouse gas emissions, which come from activities such as clearing land for agriculture.??

While the agricultural and land use sectors have made strides to offset emissions, Sohngen said the most significant obstacle to implementing sustainable practices is funding. The U.N. panel estimates that over $400 billion a year is needed to deliver net-zero emissions by 2050.?

Sohngen said contributions by the private sector will be essential to overcome this financial barrier, and he is glad there has already been support from this area.

“So if it’s not the private sector, then that just isn’t happening,” Sohngen said. “So the exciting thing is the private sector is doing it. We’re seeing big investments coming in from big companies to make the stuff on the ground a reality.”

Mike Estadt, an agriculture and natural resources educator at the Ohio State extension in Pickaway County, said funding is integral to incentivize people in the land use sector to change their existing business models and participate in climate mitigation efforts.

According to the panel, agriculture and other land uses account for approximately 22 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions. Estadt said while those in the agricultural sector had previously been skeptical of climate change, many now see themselves as the solution to the problem.

“There’s not as many deniers as there used to be,” Estadt said. “I think farmers and agriculture in general are starting to realize that because our atmosphere is warmer, our weather has changed.”

According to the panel, average annual global greenhouse gas emissions were at an all-time high between 2010 and 2019.?

However, the rate of temperature growth has slowed from an average of 2.1 percent per year at the beginning of the millennium to 1.3 percent per year in the last decade. Sohngen said this reduction in annual emissions is not enough to limit warming to the Paris Climate Accords’ goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, but it proves mitigation efforts have been effective.

Robyn Wilson, a professor of risk analysis and decision science in the School of Environment and Natural Resources, said while the conclusions of the panel’s report make it easy to neglect environmental issues, it is important to recognize the progress being made.

“I think you have to demonstrate those local successes,” Wilson said. “I think you have to highlight those things and then challenge people to think about, ‘How can we have a bigger impact?’ ”