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Climate stabilization wedges revisited: can agricultural production and greenhouse‐gas reduction goals be accomplished?
Author(s) -
Grosso Stephen J Del,
Cavigelli Michel A
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1890/120058
Subject(s) - greenhouse gas , agriculture , natural resource economics , deforestation (computer science) , reforestation , environmental science , climate change , climate change mitigation , agricultural productivity , carbon sequestration , consumption (sociology) , production (economics) , environmental protection , business , carbon dioxide , economics , agroforestry , ecology , biology , social science , macroeconomics , sociology , computer science , programming language
Climate stabilization wedges are defined as strategies that contribute to greenhouse‐gas (GHG) mitigation that – in aggregate – achieve a particular goal. Wedges have been proposed as a GHG mitigation framework because no single technology or economic sector can sufficiently reduce emissions to acceptable levels. To avoid the most dangerous risks of climate change, we argue that mitigation of ~9000 teragrams of carbon equivalents (Tg Ceq) will be required by the year 2030. We estimate that agriculture could provide wedges of 1350 to 3900 Tg Ceq under attainment of technological and human behavior mitigation potentials. Improved agricultural management can decrease nitrous oxide and methane emissions and increase carbon sequestration. Consumption of fewer livestock products along with agricultural intensification through available technologies can result in reduced emissions in both developed and developing countries. Decreasing excess protein and calorie consumption in developed countries improves personal health, while reforestation and avoided deforestation in developing countries help to maintain biodiversity. The mitigation wedges have varying economic costs but also have multiple benefits.