Abstract
Stabilizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from croplands as agricultural demand grows is a critical component of climate change mitigation1,2,3. Emissions intensity metrics—including carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per kilocalorie produced (‘production intensity’)—can highlight regions, management practices, and crops as potential foci for mitigation4,5,6,7. Yet the spatial and crop-wise distribution of emissions intensity has been uncertain. Here, we develop global crop-specific circa 2000 estimates of GHG emissions and GHG intensity in high spatial detail, reporting the effects of rice paddy management, peatland draining, and nitrogen (N) fertilizer on CH4, CO2 and N2O emissions. Global mean production intensity is 0.16 Mg CO2e M kcal−1, yet certain cropping practices contribute disproportionately to emissions. Peatland drainage (3.7 Mg CO2e M kcal−1)—concentrated in Europe and Indonesia—accounts for 32% of these cropland emissions despite peatlands producing just 1.1% of total crop kilocalories. Methane emissions from rice (0.58 Mg CO2e M kcal-1), a crucial food staple supplying 15% of total crop kilocalories, contribute 48% of cropland emissions, with outsized production intensity in Vietnam. In contrast, N2O emissions from N fertilizer application (0.033 Mg CO2e M kcal−1) generate only 20% of cropland emissions. We find that current total GHG emissions are largely unrelated to production intensity across crops and countries. Climate mitigation policies should therefore be directed to locations where crops have both high emissions and high intensities.
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Acknowledgements
We thank J. Foley for conversations conceptualizing this project. P. Engstrom, H. Rodrigues, D. Makowski, M. Ogg, S. Seibert and J. van de Steeg assisted with methods and data development. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation provided primary research funding, with additional support from the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch project HAW01136-H, managed by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (K.M.C.), USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative fellowship 2016-67012-25208 (N.D.M.), NSF Hydrological Sciences grant 1521210 (N.D.M.), and the Belmont Forum/FACCE-JPI-funded DEVIL project NE/M021327/1 (J.S.G., M.H. and P.C.W.). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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K.M.C., P.C.W. and J.S.G. conceived the project. K.M.C., J.S.G., N.D.M., M.H., P.H., G.K.M. and K.A.B. provided new data and/or methods. K.M.C. and J.S.G. carried out modelling and analysis. All authors participated in writing the manuscript.
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Carlson, K., Gerber, J., Mueller, N. et al. Greenhouse gas emissions intensity of global croplands. Nature Clim Change 7, 63–68 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3158
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3158
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