An interactive model to assess pathways for agriculture and food sector contributions to country-level net-zero targets

Abstract

The Food and agriculture system plays a determining role in many countries ambitions to achieve net-zero by 2050. Sector pathways consistent with this objective most frequently describe sustainable intensification as the dominant response. This narrows the option space for the agricultural sector and restricts its ability to address multiple sustainability issues simultaneously. Here we present an interactive model ARISE (AgRIculture and food SystEm interactive model) which allows stakeholders to design complementary food and agriculture sector pathways and build consensus. As a first case study, we provided an environment-oriented NGO assessment of a UK agroecology pathway and evaluate the benefits in comparison with alternative pathways available in the literature and developed by the UK Government. This shows how the ARISE model can enable the exploration of critical trade-offs between the multiple sustainability objectives.