Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Agricultural and Industrial Sectors—Change Trends, Economic Conditions, and Country Classification: Evidence from the European Union

Major US electric utility climate pledges have the potential to collectively reduce power sector emissions by one-third

Searching for solutions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by agricultural policy decisions — Application of system dynamics modeling for the case of Latvia

McRae Trust Farm was used to examine how hill country farming policies and management affected the quantity of livestock greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, profitability, and risk. Land use decisions were subject to the opportunities and constraints inherent in the natural soil capital of the farm. Analysis was undertaken using FARMAX® and OVERSEER®. Features of the pastoral farming system in 2009 were compared with 1990, and data around livestock GHG emissions was compared with the methodology proposed in the Climate Change (Agriculture Sector) Regulations 2010 which is intended to be the basis for calculating farmers' liability in 2015. Changing livestock policies can potentially change livestock GHG emissions by around 10%. Reduced emission intensity (kg CO2-e/kg meat & fibre) is achievable, but total GHG emissions may be increased over the baseline. Profitability, as measured by Economic Farm Surplus, may be increased or decreased with no relationship with the level of GHG emissions. Between 1990 and 2009, intensity of GHG emissions has been reduced by about 5% on this farm. An area of 12 ha of forestry will assist in reducing GHG liability in the initial period of agriculture's inclusion in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

In this study, the level of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions from a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland were monitored and greenhouse gas emissions were estimated by using a newly developed model. The effects of three different plant species on greenhouse gas emissions were investigated. Cyperus esculentus (Zone I), Typha latifolia (Zone II) and Phragmites australis (Zone III) were selected as the experimental species. Greenhouse gas emissions were sampled twelve times totally by using the closed chamber method between January and December. The highest level of emission was measured for nitrous oxide emission, released from Zone I in August (10,8371 kg CO2e/d). The lowest level of emission was measured for carbon dioxide emission (0,0156 kg CO2e/d) at Zone III in January. The results revealed that Cyperus esculentus has the highest greenhouse gas emission and the highest Global Warming Potential. All greenhouse gas emissions were influenced from different plant species. Phragmites australis could be used for minimizing the level of greenhouse gas emissions as it has the lowest level of greenhouse gas emission and Global Warming Potential. Finally, the possible level of greenhouse gas emission is estimated by using Monte Carlo simulation if the wetland is vegetated with only Phragmites australis. Approximately 33% of greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if the wetland is vegetated onlywith Phragmites australis.

Simple SummaryLivestock accounts for an estimated 80% of total agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, making abatement of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock a high-priority challenge facing animal nutritionists. Mitigating greenhouse gases in ruminants without reducing animal production is desirable both as a strategy to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and as a way of improving dietary feed efficiency. The inclusion of feed additives in the diets of ruminants can reduce energy losses as methane, which typically reduces animal performance and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. The present study evaluated the abatement potential of nine essential oil blends to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The inclusion of the blends resulted in a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and in vitro apparent dry matter digestibility with higher values noted for the control treatment. A similar trend was noted for in vitro truly dry matter digestibility with higher values noted in the control treatment. The efficiency of microbial production was greater for the blends. The inclusion of the blends affected the total and molar proportion of volatile fatty acid concentrations. Overall, inclusion of the blends modified the rumen function resulting in improved efficiency of microbial production.The current study evaluated nine essential oil blends (EOBs) for their effects on ruminal in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), efficiency of microbial production, total short-chain fatty acid concentration (SCFA), total gas, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using two dietary substrates (high forage and high concentrate). The study was arranged as a 2 × 2 × 9 + 1 factorial design to evaluate the effects of the nine EOBs on the two dietary substrates at two time points (6 and 24 h). The inclusion levels of the EOBs were 0 µL (control) and 100 µL with three laboratory replicates. Substrate × EOBs × time interactions were not significant (p > 0.05) for total gas and greenhouse gas emissions. The inclusion of EOBs in the diets resulted in a reduction (p < 0.001) in GHG emissions, except for EOB1 and EOB8 in the high concentrate diet at 6 h and for EOB8 in the high forage diet at 24 h of incubation. Diet type had no effect on apparent IVDMD (IVADMD) whereas the inclusion of EOBs reduced (p < 0.05) IVADMD with higher values noted for the control treatment. The efficiency of microbial production was greater (p < 0.001) for EOB treatments except for EOB1 inclusion in the high forage diet. The inclusion of EOBs affected (p < 0.001) the total and molar proportion of volatile fatty acid concentrations. Overall, the inclusion of the EOBs modified the rumen function resulting in improved efficiency of microbial production. Both the apparent and truly degraded DM was reduced in the EOB treatments. The inclusion of EOBs also resulted in reduced GHG emissions in both diets, except for EOB8 in the high forage diet which was slightly higher than the control treatment.

With more than half the world's population now living in urban areas and with much of the world still urbanizing, there are concerns that urbanization is a key driver of unsustainable resource demands. Urbanization also appears to contribute to ever-growing levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Meanwhile, in much of Africa and Asia and many nations in Latin America and the Caribbean, urbanization has long outstripped local governments' capacities or willingness to act as can be seen in the high proportion of the urban population living in poor quality, overcrowded, illegal housing lacking provision for water, sanitation, drainage, healthcare and schools. But there is good evidence that urban areas can combine high living standards with relatively low GHG emissions and lower resource demands. This paper draws on some examples of this and considers what these imply for urban policies in a resource-constrained world. These suggest that cities can allow high living standards to be combined with levels of GHG emissions that are much lower than those that are common in affluent cities today. This can be achieved not with an over-extended optimism on what new technologies can bring but mostly by a wider application of what already has been shown to work.

With more than half the world’s population now living in urban areas and with much of the world still urbanizing, there are concerns that urbanization is a key driver of unsustainable resource demands. Urbanization also appears to contribute to ever-growing levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Meanwhile, in much of Africa and Asia and many nations in Latin America and the Caribbean, urbanization has long outstripped local governments’ capacities or willingness to act as can be seen in the high proportion of the urban population living in poor quality, overcrowded, illegal housing lacking provision for water, sanitation, drainage, healthcare and schools. But there is good evidence that urban areas can combine high living standards with relatively low GHG emissions and lower resource demands. This paper draws on some examples of this and considers what these imply for urban policies in a resource-constrained world. These suggest that cities can allow high living standards to be combined with levels of GHG emissions that are much lower than those that are common in affluent cities today. This can be achieved not with an over-extended optimism on what new technologies can bring but mostly by a wider application of what already has been shown to work.

The global food production industry is responsible for producing high levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Along the entire food supply chain (FSC), potential for mitigation exists because approximately one-third of all food globally produced is wasted, equivalent to 1.3 billion tons per year. On a global scale, emissions from livestock production are about 4600–7100 Mt CO2-eq/year when considered over the whole life cycle. These numbers represent roughly 9.4–14.5% of the total global GHG emissions. In Austria, the livestock sector was responsible for producing about 11.6% of the total GHG emissions in 2012 as a result of the production of about 909,000 t of meat. A high potential for mitigation of GHG emissions from livestock production exists, especially during the farming and production phases. A reduction in meat waste would, in the long-term, directly reduce GHG emissions stemming from livestock production. Two scenarios were considered to assess the GHG mitigation potential of waste from meat production: a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario and a reduction (RED) scenario (assuming a one-third reduction in waste from meat production in Austria). Because food waste is influenced by several phenomena along the FSC, taking an approach such as the life cycle assessment (LCA) offers only a partial solution. By using a Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) approach, researchers can consider social, economic and ecological impacts. It is possible to analyze and compare food waste reduction potentials through the use of such a tool, which can support GHG mitigation efforts in terms of their social, environmental and economic contribution to the livestock and meat processing sector. This approach allowed the identification of indicators that contribute to all sustainability dimensions and support the conclusion that preventing waste from meat processing would save at least 4.8 Mt CO2-eq emissions per year in Austria, which represented 6% of Austria’s total CO2-eq emissions in 2012.

The livestock sector in low- and middle-income countries could contribute significantly to reduce the rate of growth and/or the level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions required to achieve the 1.5 °C target of the Paris Agreement. Yet, the sector is also expected to contribute to food and income security in these countries. Using an extensive dataset on the Ethiopian livestock sector, we assessed the potential of selected interventions to increase supply of animal source protein (ASP) and reduce GHG emissions intensity or absolute emissions at national level. The business as usual (BAU) scenario was modelled by extrapolating the historical trends observed during the base years (i.e. 2010 – 2020) to the period between 2021 and 2030. Four scenarios were modelled including structural changes in cattle herd (S1) and chicken flock (S3) composition, increased milk yields of dairy cattle (S2), and a combination of all strategies (S4). We found that the total ASP produced and supplied per capita, as well as total GHG emissions increased between 2021 and 2030 across all scenarios while emission intensities per unit ASP produced decreased. However, by 2030, the total GHG emissions in S1 (i.e. 146.7 MtCO2e) were lower than in the BAU scenario (i.e. 149.0 MtCO2e) while the total ASP supplied per capita was higher in the former (i.e. 6.84 kg) than the latter (i.e. 6.24 kg). These findings suggest that structural changes at herd level could reduce total GHG emissions and concomitantly increase ASP supply. Therefore, structural transformation could be a highly relevant policy option for low- and middle- income countries, where the livestock sector must address multiple goals including food and income security, and global climate commitments.

Mitigating Curtailment and Carbon Emissions through Load Migration between Data Centers

BackgroundSocietal pressures exist to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from farm animals, especially in beef cattle. Both total GHG and GHG emissions per unit of product decrease as productivity increases. Limitations of previous studies on GHG emissions are that they generally describe feed intake inadequately, assess the consequences of selection on particular traits only, or examine consequences for only part of the production chain. Here, we examine GHG emissions for the whole production chain, with the estimated cost of carbon included as an extra cost on traits in the breeding objective of the production system.MethodsWe examined an example beef production system where economic merit was measured from weaning to slaughter. The estimated cost of the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) associated with feed intake change is included in the economic values calculated for the breeding objective traits and comes in addition to the cost of the feed associated with trait change. GHG emission effects on the production system are accumulated over the breeding objective traits, and the reduction in GHG emissions is evaluated, for different carbon prices, both for the individual animal and the production system.ResultsMultiple-trait selection in beef cattle can reduce total GHG and GHG emissions per unit of product while increasing economic performance if the cost of feed in the breeding objective is high. When carbon price was $10, $20, $30 and $40/ton CO2-e, selection decreased total GHG emissions by 1.1, 1.6, 2.1 and 2.6% per generation, respectively. When the cost of feed for the breeding objective was low, selection reduced total GHG emissions only if carbon price was high (~ $80/ton CO2-e). Ignoring the costs of GHG emissions when feed cost was low substantially increased emissions (e.g. 4.4% per generation or ~ 8.8% in 10 years).ConclusionsThe ability to reduce GHG emissions in beef cattle depends on the cost of feed in the breeding objective of the production system. Multiple-trait selection will reduce emissions, while improving economic performance, if the cost of feed in the breeding objective is high. If it is low, greater growth will be favoured, leading to an increase in GHG emissions that may be undesirable.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of digitalization on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, taking into consideration the mediating effect of renewable energy consumption in the 27 European Union (EU) countries between 2000 and 2021, by employing generalized method of moments (GMM), panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) estimators, and mediating effect models. The findings show that digitization has both a direct and a partially mediating effect on net GHG emissions. This means that to reduce GHG emissions, digitalization should be used along with clean energy, environmentally friendly innovations, and low-carbon technologies. Digitalization represents a driver for increased energy consumption towards renewable energy, which in turn has a significant contribution to pollution reduction. However, the effect could be mixed, depending on the way in which digitalization is used and the country’s economic model. These findings suggest that EU countries should create a secure environment conducive to digitalization and innovation, support digital and green startups, digital transformation, and traditional industry upgrades. Also, EU governments should consider renewable energy caused by digitalization as a critical factor in preventing pollution and climate change policies, in addition to energy savings, energy efficiency, and innovation. Additionally, EU countries should improve their research and innovation policies to develop green technologies, which are essential for accelerating the transition to clean energy, improving environmental quality, and preventing climate change. Furthermore, the EU countries should consider information and communication technology (ICT) trade as an important driver for their clean energy policies.

A global supply chain is affected by many factors, such as disruption, customs duty, economic partnership agreements, and requirements for the reduction of GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emission. COVID-19 has caused a negative impact on the global supply chain. A sustainable supply chain needs to reduce GHG emission. However, GHG emission varies across countries because of the energy mix. Therefore, the impact of disruption and different GHG emission levels should be considered in a global supply chain design. Moreover, a global supply chain is influenced by customs duty and Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is a free trade agreement. This study models and formulates a global supply chain network including disruption, material-based GHG emission, customs duty, and TPP to minimize the total cost and total GHG emission by integer programming with ε constraint. The result of the numerical experiments indicates that the nationalization of a factory in a developed country is effective in reducing GHG emission to avoid disruption in the middle GHG emission country in a global supply chain. Additionally, it is found that there is no trade-off relationship between disruption effect and reducing total GHG emission, Though, there is a trade-off relationship between total cost and total GHG emission in the experiment.

Comparison of Turkey's performance of greenhouse gas emissions and local/regional pollutants with EU countries

BackgroundThe typical Western diet is associated with high levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and with obesity and other diet-related diseases. This study aims to determine the impact of adjustments to the current diet at specific moments of food consumption, to lower GHG emissions and improve diet quality.MethodsFood consumption in the Netherlands was assessed by two non-consecutive 24-h recalls for adults aged 19–69 years (n = 2102). GHG emission of food consumption was evaluated with the use of life cycle assessments. The population was stratified by gender and according to tertiles of dietary GHG emission. Scenarios were developed to lower GHG emissions of people in the highest tertile of dietary GHG emission; 1) reducing red and processed meat consumed during dinner by 50% and 75%, 2) replacing 50% and 100% of alcoholic and soft drinks (including fruit and vegetable juice and mineral water) by tap water, 3) replacing cheese consumed in between meals by plant-based alternatives and 4) two combinations of these scenarios. Effects on GHG emission as well as nutrient content of the diet were assessed.ResultsThe mean habitual daily dietary GHG emission in the highest tertile of dietary GHG emission was 6.7 kg CO2-equivalents for men and 5.1 kg CO2-equivalents for women. The scenarios with reduced meat consumption and/or replacement of all alcoholic and soft drinks were most successful in reducing dietary GHG emissions (ranging from − 15% to − 34%) and also reduced saturated fatty acid intake and/or sugar intake. Both types of scenarios lead to reduced energy and iron intakes. Protein intake remained adequate.ConclusionsReducing the consumption of red and processed meat during dinner and of soft and alcoholic drinks throughout the day leads to significantly lower dietary GHG emissions of people in the Netherlands in the highest tertile of dietary GHG emissions, while also having health benefits. For subgroups of the population not meeting energy or iron requirements as a result of these dietary changes, low GHG emission and nutritious replacement foods might be needed in order to meet energy and iron requirements.