Carbon Farming: A Transition Path for Agriculture & Forestry

According to Allianz SE, "The agriculture and forestry sectors are at the frontline of climate change. Research shows that in the last 50 years, severe heatwaves and droughts have already caused crop losses to triple in the EU. With an increasing risk of extreme weather conditions and drought, by 2050, climate change could further drag down corn yields by up to -22% across the region, and wheat yields by up to -49% in southern Europe. 

This highlights the vulnerability of our food system to climate change, and why adaptation is needed to make it more resilient. The two sectors are also both significant sources and sinks of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2019, agriculture and forestry accounted for 1.5% of EU GDP. However, agriculture alone was responsible for around 11% of total GHG emissions in the EU, amounting to 386Mt CO2-eq2 of non-CO2 emissions such as methane and nitrous oxide, mostly from livestock and mineral fertilizer use, respectively. In fact, the agriculture industry was the largest sectoral source of these emissions. In addition, forestry and land use change was responsible for another 118Mt CO2-eq of GHG emissions. 

At the same time, agriculture and forestry also have a significant role as carbon sinks: forests can remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it as biomass. In 2019, land use and land use change and forestry (LULUCF) removed about 368 Mt of CO2, resulting in a net emission of 137Mt CO2-eq for the whole sector." 

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