Analysis of Sources and Trends in Agricultural GHG Emissions from Annex I Countries

Elżbieta Wójcik-Gront

doi:10.3390/atmos11040392

Abstract

The vast majority of the scientific community believe that anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are the predominant cause of climate change. One of the GHG emission sources is agriculture. Following the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines regarding GHG emission calculation, agriculture is responsible for around 10% of the overall global emissions. Agricultural GHG emissions consist of several emission source categories and several GHGs. In this article were described the results of multivariate statistical analyses performed on data gathered during the period 1990–2017 from the inventories of 43 Annex I countries (parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, listed in Annex I of the Convention). Trends in the agricultural GHG emissions were analyzed. Generally, the global agricultural GHG emissions are increasing, while the emissions from Annex I countries are decreasing. Apart from the application of urea, emissions from all other sources, such as enteric fermentation, manure management, rice cultivation, agricultural soils, field burning of agricultural residues, and liming are decreasing. Based on multivariate analysis, the most different countries, in terms of GHG emission sources composition in agriculture and emission trends, are Australia, Japan, New Zealand and USA. The rest of the Annex I countries are mostly from Europe and their shares and trends are similar, with slight differences between countries depending, among others, on the date of joining the European Union.

Highlights

Over the last 100 years, along with the development of a consumer lifestyle, progressively more greenhouse gases (GHGs) are emitted into the atmosphere, which have implications on the warming of the global climate [1]
Methane (CH4 ) and nitrous oxide (N2 O) emissions come from enteric fermentation in domestic livestock [9], livestock manure management [10], rice cultivation [11], agricultural soil management [12], and the field burning of agricultural residues [13]
The following emission sources were used: enteric fermentation and manure management in domestic livestock, agricultural soils, rice cultivation, field burning of agricultural residues, liming and urea application

Summary

Introduction

Over the last 100 years, along with the development of a consumer lifestyle, progressively more greenhouse gases (GHGs) are emitted into the atmosphere, which have implications on the warming of the global climate [1]. The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasized that agriculture is an important source of GHG emissions worldwide. Anthropogenic global emissions are over 36 billion tonnes of CO2 per year—this continues to increase [2]. GHG emissions from Annex I countries accounted for almost 50% of total emissions in 2017 [3]. Annex I are important agricultural countries in the world. Their animal husbandry and fertilization account for a considerable proportion of agricultural GHG emission throughout the world

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion