Agriculture's Contribution to Climate Change and Role in Mitigation Is Distinct From Predominantly Fossil CO2-Emitting Sectors
Agriculture's Contribution to Climate Change and Role in Mitigation Is Distinct From Predominantly Fossil CO2-Emitting Sectors
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DOI：
10.3389/fsufs.2020.518039
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发表时间：
2021-02-03
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Pierrehumbert, Raymond
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Lynch, John;Cain, Michelle;Pierrehumbert, Raymond
农业是人为造成全球变暖的一个重要因素，减少农业排放——主要是甲烷和一氧化二氮——可以在减缓气候变化方面发挥重要作用。然而，二氧化碳（CO2）是一种存量污染物，而甲烷（CH4）主要是一种流动污染物，两者之间存在重要差异。这些动态意味着，传统的二氧化碳当量总排放率报告是高度模糊的，不能直接反映对全球温度变化的历史或预期贡献。因此，排放不同气体的不同部门的作用和责任同样被使用二氧化碳当量来传达减排情景的通用方法所掩盖。我们主张改变报告农业温室气体排放的方式，并考虑如何减缓它们，以更好地反映不同温室气体的不同作用。还应提醒政策制定者、利益相关者和整个社会，农业在减缓气候变化中的作用是一个比气候科学本身所能提供的信息广泛得多的主题，包括对经济和技术可行性的考虑、对粮食供应和土地使用的偏好以及公平和正义的概念。对不同排放的影响有一个更细致入微的看法可能有助于这些对话。
Agriculture is a significant contributor to anthropogenic global warming, and reducing agricultural emissions-largely methane and nitrous oxide-could play a significant role in climate change mitigation. However, there are important differences between carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a stock pollutant, and methane (CH4), which is predominantly a flow pollutant. These dynamics mean that conventional reporting of aggregated CO2-equivalent emission rates is highly ambiguous and does not straightforwardly reflect historical or anticipated contributions to global temperature change. As a result, the roles and responsibilities of different sectors emitting different gases are similarly obscured by the common means of communicating emission reduction scenarios using CO2-equivalence. We argue for a shift in how we report agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and think about their mitigation to better reflect the distinct roles of different greenhouse gases. Policy-makers, stakeholders, and society at large should also be reminded that the role of agriculture in climate mitigation is a much broader topic than climate science alone can inform, including considerations of economic and technical feasibility, preferences for food supply and land-use, and notions of fairness and justice. A more nuanced perspective on the impacts of different emissions could aid these conversations.