Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions

Livestock are responsible for 12% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable intensification of livestock production systems might become a key climate mitigation technology. However, livestock production systems vary substantially, making the implementation of climate mitigation policie...

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Autores principales: Havlík, Petr, Valin, Hugo, Herrero, Mario, Obersteiner, Michael, Schmid, Erwin, Rufino, Mariana C., Mosnier, Aline, Thornton, Philip K., Böttcher, Hannes, Conant, Richard T., Frank, S., Fritz, Steffen, Fuss, S., Kraxner, Florian, Notenbaert, An Maria Omer
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: National Academy of Sciences 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/35050
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author Havlík, Petr
Valin, Hugo
Herrero, Mario
Obersteiner, Michael
Schmid, Erwin
Rufino, Mariana C.
Mosnier, Aline
Thornton, Philip K.
Böttcher, Hannes
Conant, Richard T.
Frank, S.
Fritz, Steffen
Fuss, S.
Kraxner, Florian
Notenbaert, An Maria Omer
author_browse Böttcher, Hannes
Conant, Richard T.
Frank, S.
Fritz, Steffen
Fuss, S.
Havlík, Petr
Herrero, Mario
Kraxner, Florian
Mosnier, Aline
Notenbaert, An Maria Omer
Obersteiner, Michael
Rufino, Mariana C.
Schmid, Erwin
Thornton, Philip K.
Valin, Hugo
author_facet Havlík, Petr
Valin, Hugo
Herrero, Mario
Obersteiner, Michael
Schmid, Erwin
Rufino, Mariana C.
Mosnier, Aline
Thornton, Philip K.
Böttcher, Hannes
Conant, Richard T.
Frank, S.
Fritz, Steffen
Fuss, S.
Kraxner, Florian
Notenbaert, An Maria Omer
author_sort Havlík, Petr
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Livestock are responsible for 12% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable intensification of livestock production systems might become a key climate mitigation technology. However, livestock production systems vary substantially, making the implementation of climate mitigation policies a formidable challenge. Here, we provide results from an economic model using a detailed and high-resolution representation of livestock production systems. We project that by 2030 autonomous transitions toward more efficient systems would decrease emissions by 736 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year (MtCO2e⋅y−1), mainly through avoided emissions from the conversion of 162 Mha of natural land. A moderate mitigation policy targeting emissions from both the agricultural and land-use change sectors with a carbon price of US$10 per tCO2e could lead to an abatement of 3,223 MtCO2e⋅y−1. Livestock system transitions would contribute 21% of the total abatement, intra- and interregional relocation of livestock production another 40%, and all other mechanisms would add 39%. A comparable abatement of 3,068 MtCO2e⋅y−1 could be achieved also with a policy targeting only emissions from land-use change. Stringent climate policies might lead to reductions in food availability of up to 200 kcal per capita per day globally. We find that mitigation policies targeting emissions from land-use change are 5 to 10 times more efficient—measured in “total abatement calorie cost”—than policies targeting emissions from livestock only. Thus, fostering transitions toward more productive livestock production systems in combination with climate policies targeting the land-use change appears to be the most efficient lever to deliver desirable climate and food availability outcomes.
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spelling CGSpace350502024-10-17T09:47:53Z Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions Havlík, Petr Valin, Hugo Herrero, Mario Obersteiner, Michael Schmid, Erwin Rufino, Mariana C. Mosnier, Aline Thornton, Philip K. Böttcher, Hannes Conant, Richard T. Frank, S. Fritz, Steffen Fuss, S. Kraxner, Florian Notenbaert, An Maria Omer livestock environment climate change Livestock are responsible for 12% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable intensification of livestock production systems might become a key climate mitigation technology. However, livestock production systems vary substantially, making the implementation of climate mitigation policies a formidable challenge. Here, we provide results from an economic model using a detailed and high-resolution representation of livestock production systems. We project that by 2030 autonomous transitions toward more efficient systems would decrease emissions by 736 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year (MtCO2e⋅y−1), mainly through avoided emissions from the conversion of 162 Mha of natural land. A moderate mitigation policy targeting emissions from both the agricultural and land-use change sectors with a carbon price of US$10 per tCO2e could lead to an abatement of 3,223 MtCO2e⋅y−1. Livestock system transitions would contribute 21% of the total abatement, intra- and interregional relocation of livestock production another 40%, and all other mechanisms would add 39%. A comparable abatement of 3,068 MtCO2e⋅y−1 could be achieved also with a policy targeting only emissions from land-use change. Stringent climate policies might lead to reductions in food availability of up to 200 kcal per capita per day globally. We find that mitigation policies targeting emissions from land-use change are 5 to 10 times more efficient—measured in “total abatement calorie cost”—than policies targeting emissions from livestock only. Thus, fostering transitions toward more productive livestock production systems in combination with climate policies targeting the land-use change appears to be the most efficient lever to deliver desirable climate and food availability outcomes. 2014-03-11 2014-02-26T17:11:40Z 2014-02-26T17:11:40Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/35050 en http://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/about/news/20140225-PNAS.html Open Access National Academy of Sciences Havlík, P., Valin, H., Herrero, M., Obersteiner, M., Schmid, E., Rufino, M.C., Mosnier, A., Thornton, P.K., Böttcher, H., Conant, R.T., Frank, S., Fritz, S., Fuss, S., Kraxner, F. and Notenbaert, A. 2014. Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions. PNAS 111(10): 3709 - 3714
spellingShingle livestock
environment
climate change
Havlík, Petr
Valin, Hugo
Herrero, Mario
Obersteiner, Michael
Schmid, Erwin
Rufino, Mariana C.
Mosnier, Aline
Thornton, Philip K.
Böttcher, Hannes
Conant, Richard T.
Frank, S.
Fritz, Steffen
Fuss, S.
Kraxner, Florian
Notenbaert, An Maria Omer
Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions
title Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions
title_full Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions
title_fullStr Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions
title_full_unstemmed Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions
title_short Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions
title_sort climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions
topic livestock
environment
climate change
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/35050
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