From Cosmos (8/9/2023)…
Global agriculture could be carbon-negative, says analysis
Agriculture is responsible for roughly a quarter of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, but a new analysis says it could become not only carbon neutral, but carbon negative – removing billions of tonnes of CO2 each year – by 2050.
The study, published in PLOS Climate, estimates that changes to agricultural technology and management could result in an annual removal of 13 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2050. For context, the world currently emits about 50 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent each year.
“Our study recognizes the food system as one of the most powerful weapons in the battle against global climate change,” says co-lead author Professor Benjamin Houlton, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, US.
“We need to move beyond silver-bullet thinking and rapidly test, verify and scale local solutions by leveraging market-based incentives.”