Abstract
Climate mitigation and adaptation planning (CMAP) has recently been implemented across the EU-28 to reduce GHG emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O). Thus, the aim of this study was to provide an overview of GHG emissions from the agricultural sector in the EU-28 from 1990 to 2019, and cluster the EU-28 countries regarding their total GHG emissions. The results emphasize the positive impact of CMAP through a negative trend of the total GHG emissions (−2653.01 thousand tons/year, p < 0.05). Despite the positive and not significant trend of the total CO2 emissions, both CH4 and N2O exhibited a negative and significant trend. At the country scale, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands showed the highest reduction in total GHG emissions, by −282.61thousand tons/year (p < 0.05), −266.40 thousand tons/year (p < 0.05), and −262.91 thousand tons/year (p < 0.05), respectively. The output of the multivariate analysis approach indicates changes in the pattern of GHG emissions between 1990 and 2019, where CO2 emissions decreased in the case of Poland and Czechia. The output of this study highlights the positive impact of CMAP, adopted by EU countries, in minimizing GHG emissions. Despite some fluctuations in CO2 emissions, strategies for attaining carbon neutrality in the agricultural sector, across the European Union, should be pursued.
Highlights
The result of the MK test indicated that there was a significant decline in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) emissions from the agricultural sector in the majority of the EU-28 countries (Figure 1, Table 2)
The trend of GHG emissions from the agricultural sector in EU countries was negative during 1990–2019, except for some countries, such as Estonia, Ireland, and Latvia, which displayed a slight increase from 3–5.6 thousand tons/year
A package of policies and strategies was released in order to achieve this aim. To reach this ambitious goal by 2050, GHG emissions need to be evaluated on a sectorial level to provide decision makers with a full overview of the changes, and the efficiency of mitigation and adaptation strategies
Summary
Rapid population growth and the concomitant increase in anthropogenic activities have resulted in climate change-induced challenges, and pose major threats to the sustainability of natural resources and the stability of the Earth’s biosphere, especially in the recent past [1]. These challenges are leading to uncontrolled accumulation of greenhouses gases in the Earth’s atmosphere [2]. Climate change indicators define the emissions of the most significant GHGs from human activity, atmospheric concentrations, and how emissions and concentrations have evolved over time [4,5]. This increasing level of GHGs is resulting in many more climate-related changes at the local to global scale [6]
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