Unlocking the Potential of the soils for carbon farming to meet net zero through real time GHG predictions

2018年11月，气候变化委员会报告称，需要进行根本性改革，以确保土地成为更有效的碳库，并建议土地使用政策必须促进英国土地的根本不同用途，以支持更深层次的减排。现有的碳交易或支付机制突显了经济杠杆实现净零排放的巨大潜力。农业和土地利用部门在温室气体减排和碳固存方面取得的进展非常缓慢，在技术上面临挑战，原因是缺乏可扩展的替代流程，在经济上缺乏适合当地条件的可行的定制商业模式。政策制定者和农民需要强大的知识和工具，以确保未来土壤的可持续管理和农业商品的生产，以实现净零目标。需要可信和可靠的计量、监测、报告和核查平台，用于国家报告、排放交易和跟踪实现净零的进展情况，以及整个产品供应链温室气体排放量的透明度和了解情况。这位博士生预计将通过与从农民到私营和公共部门利益相关者的各种利益相关者打交道，来提升视网膜项目中开发的技术。预计该学生将对威士忌供应链进行案例研究，创建碳足迹模型，以确定碳农业和交易的热点、潜在改进和可行的商业模式。这一博士学位将描述成功商业模式的要素，识别市场失灵，并概述为私营部门建立可行的碳交易的商业案例而需要克服的一系列挑战。该学生将在赫顿商学院现有优势的基础上发展起来，最近取得了成功(投资200万英镑)。这包括NERC-RETINA项目，该项目开发了一个功能性数字MVR原型，它结合了现场传感器、遥感、智能手机应用程序和模型集成的信息，以确认土壤碳和温室气体减排的管理实践有效性；以及EU-SENSE项目。该项目提供了极好的机会，提供涵盖农业生态学、生物地球化学建模、统计分析、高性能计算培训和知识翻译的多学科技能和技术培训，对未来的雇主具有极大的吸引力。该项目将适合具有农业/农业生态背景的候选人，他们有兴趣与利益相关者合作，解决大麦行业面临的可持续性挑战。在芝华士兄弟的安置将为麦芽和烈酒加工谷物的实用性提供宝贵的见解，也是向大麦种植者供应威士忌行业的重要纽带。

In November 2018 the Committee on Climate Change reported that fundamental reform is required to ensure that land becomes a more effective carbon store , and suggested land use policy must promote radically different uses of UK land to support deeper emissions reductions. Existing carbon trading or payment mechanisms have highlighted the enormous potential for economic levers to deliver Net Zero. Progress made in GHG mitigation and carbon sequestration in agriculture and land use sector is very slow and faces challenges technically due to lack of scalable alternate processes and economically lack of viable customised business models suited for local conditions. Robust knowledge and tools are needed for policymakers and farmers to ensure future sustainable management of soils, and production of agricultural commodities to meet Net Zero goals. There is a need for credible and reliable measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) platforms, for national reporting, emissions trading and to track progress towards Net Zero, as well as transparency and understanding of GHG emissions along the entirety of product supply chains. The PhD student is expected to upscale technology developed in RETINA project by dealing with various stakeholders ranging from farmers to private and public sector stakeholders. The student is expected to undertake a case study on the Whisky supply chain, to create carbon footprint models to identify hotspots, potential improvements and viable business models for carbon farming and trading. This PhD will characterize the elements of successful business models, identify market failures, and outline a range of challenges to be overcome to build a commercial case for the private sector for viable carbon trading. The student will build on existing strengths within Hutton developed with recent success (2 million investment). This includes the NERC-RETINA project, which developed a functional digital MVR prototype by combining information from field-based sensors, remote sensing, smartphone apps and integration of models to confirm management practice effectiveness on soil carbon and GHG reductions, and the EU-SENSE project.The project provides excellent opportunities for training in multi-disciplinary skills and techniques spanning agroecology, biogeochemical modelling, statistical analysis, training in High performance computing and knowledge translation that will be highly attractive to future employers. The project will suit candidates with an agriculture/agroecology background interested in working with stakeholders to solve sustainability challenges facing the barley industry. Placements at Chivas Brothers will provide invaluable insights into the practicalities of processing grain for malt and spirits, and an important link to barley growers supplying the whisky industry.