scholarly journals An assessment of greenhouse gas emissions: implications for the Australian cotton industry

2010 ◽  
Vol 148 (5) ◽  
pp. 501-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. N. MARASENI ◽  
G. COCKFIELD ◽  
J. MAROULIS
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Carbon Price ◽  
Pollution Reduction ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Cotton Industry ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Farm Inputs

SUMMARYThe majority of cotton produced in Australia is exported. The Australian cotton industry must maintain product quality in order to remain globally competitive. In addition, carbon-conscious consumers need reassurance that the system used to grow the product is environmentally sustainable. The aim of the present study was to estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to various farm inputs in three common types of cotton farming systems on the Darling Downs region, southern Queensland. Analysis revealed that GHG emissions for dryland solid-plant and dryland double-skip cotton farming systems are similar, but emissions are much higher for irrigated solid-plant cotton farming (1367, 1274 and 4841 kg CO2e/ha, respectively). However, if comparisons of GHG emissions are based on yield (per tonne), the positions of dryland double-skip farming and dryland solid-plant farming are reversed, but the position of irrigated cotton farming still remains as the highest GHG emitter. If the cotton industry comes under the Australian Government Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) without any subsidies and preconditions, and with a carbon price of A$25/t CO2e, the costs borne by each system would be A$66.8/t for the irrigated cotton industry, A$39.7/t for the dryland solid-plant cotton industry and A$43.6/t for the dryland double-skip cotton industry. This suggests that irrigated cotton would be more profitable in financial terms but with heavy environmental sustainability costs.

scholarly journals Consumer Readiness to Reduce Meat Consumption for the Purpose of Environmental Sustainability: Insights from Norway

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marthe Austgulen ◽  
Silje Skuland ◽  
Alexander Schjøll ◽  
Frode Alfnes
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Consumption Practices ◽  
Group Interviews

Food production is associated with various environmental impacts and the production of meat is highlighted as a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. A transition toward plant-based and low-meat diets has thus been emphasised as an important contribution to reducing climate change. By combining results from a consumer survey, focus group interviews and an in-store field experiment, this article investigates whether Norwegian consumers are ready to make food choices based on what is environmentally sustainable. We ask how consumers perceive the environmental impacts of food consumption, whether they are willing and able to change their food consumption in a more climate-friendly direction, and what influences their perceptions and positions. The results show that there is uncertainty among consumers regarding what constitutes climate- or environmentally friendly food choices and that few consumers are motivated to change their food consumption patterns for climate- or environmental reasons. Consumers’ support to initiatives, such as eating less meat and increasing the prices of meat, are partly determined by the consumers’ existing value orientation and their existing consumption practices. Finally, we find that although providing information about the climate benefits of eating less meat has an effect on vegetable purchases, this does not seem to mobilise consumer action any more than the provision of information about the health benefits of eating less meat does. The article concludes that environmental policies aiming to transfer part of the responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to food consumers is being challenged by the fact that most consumers are still not ready to make food choices based on what is best for the climate or environment.

Estimating Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Oman Using Different Frameworks

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-348
Author(s):  
Tariq Umar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Organic Waste ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Gulf Cooperation Council ◽  
Council Member ◽  
Tackle Climate Change

Reduction in emissions is the key to tackle climate change issues and achieve environmental sustainability. The Gulf Cooperation Council member countries however, not only generate the highest quantity of MSW/capita when compared globally but also in most of these countries such waste is just dumped at different landfill stations. In Oman, the total quantity of MSW stood at 2.0 million tonnes/year. The emission from this waste is estimated at 2,989,467 tonnes/year (CO2 Equivalent). This article attempts to develop frameworks that considered landfilling, composting, and recycling of MSW and compared the emissions of these frameworks. The framework (F2) which proposes the landfilling and composting process for the organic waste which normally goes to landfills results in an increase of emissions by 7% as compared to landfill practice. Similarly, the samples of MSW collected in Oman show a good amount of recycling waste. The framework (F3) which considers the landfill, composting, and recycling reduced the total Greenhouse Gas emissions from 2,989,467 tonnes/year to 2,959,735 tonnes/year (CO2 Equivalent); representing a total reduction of 1% in emissions. Although composting increases the emissions, however, considering composting and recycling will not only reduce the burden on landfills but will promote agricultural and industrial activates.

scholarly journals A framework for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through carbon pricing for offshore outsourcing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amulya Gurtu
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
National Level ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Carbon Price ◽  
Offshore Outsourcing ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Fuel Prices ◽  
Supply Chain Costs ◽  
The Impact

Reducing supply chain costs is a primary concern of every organization. Organizations have implemented offshore outsourcing as an effective strategy towards reducing supply chain costs. However, neither government nor corporate organizations have sufficiently taken into account the effects of this strategy on global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The purpose of this research is to analyze the impact of offshore outsourcing on global GHG emissions, and the effect of changes in fuel prices in addition to a carbon price on additional emissions on supply chain costs. The purpose is supported by five key objectives. The objectives are addressed through a systematic methodology. The analysis is supported by a literature review, and the development and testing of mathematical models. Finally, a framework to reduce global GHG emissions through a carbon price on differential emissions from manufacturing and additional emissions from international transportation is proposed. The findings suggest that offshore outsourcing has increased global emissions. The fuel prices are increasing at a rate higher than the overall rate. A carbon price on excess emissions due to outsourcing coupled with increasing fuel prices impacts supply chain costs adversely and leads to bigger lot-sizes. As an illustration at the national level, the framework showed that emissions for the USA increased by about 20% for every year between 2007 and 2010. As another example from a corporate organization, the net profit (profit after tax) for Wal-Mart was reduced by about 19% for 2006 due to a carbon price on manufacturing emissions alone. The suggested framework is a major contribution for quantifying the extent of changes in the emissions due to offshore outsourcing and the value of these emissions at a prevailing rate of carbon tax in North America. It is intended to provide a basis for reducing emissions and costs from global supply chains. The proposed framework provides a level playing field to manufacturers in different countries using different technologies, provides incentives to organizations for manufacturing in locations where net emissions are low, helps national governments determine how they can generate revenue for dealing with emissions, and, most importantly, aids in reducing overall global GHG emissions.

scholarly journals Indirect Effects of the Digital Transformation on Environmental Sustainability: Methodological Challenges in Assessing the Greenhouse Gas Abatement Potential of ICT

10.29007/lx7q ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan C. T. Bieser ◽  
Lorenz M. Hilty
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Use Cases ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Impact Prediction ◽  
Methodological Challenges

The digital transformation has direct and indirect effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Direct effects are caused by the production, use and disposal of information and communication technology (ICT) hardware. Indirect effects include the changes to patterns of production and consumption in other domains. Studies quantifying both effects often conclude that net effects (indirect minus direct effects) can lead to a significant GHG emission reduction. We revisited a study by Accenture on ICT’s GHG abatement potential in Switzerland by reassessing the main assumptions. Our results confirm that ICT has the potential to reduce GHG emissions in Switzerland, especially in the building, transport and energy domains. However, our results also suggest that the potential is smaller than anticipated and that exploiting this potential requires targeted action. Reasons for differences among these results (and the results of similar other studies) are: degrees of freedom in the assessment methodology, selection of ICT use cases, allocation of impacts to ICT, definition of the baseline, estimation of the environmental impact, prediction of the future adoption of use cases, estimation of rebound effects, interaction among use cases, and extrapolation from use case to society- wide impacts. We suggest addressing these methodological challenges to improve comparability of results.

scholarly journals The greenhouse gas impacts of converting food production in England and Wales to organic methods

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence G. Smith ◽  
Guy J. D. Kirk ◽  
Philip J. Jones ◽  
Adrian G. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Organic Farming ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Soil Carbon Sequestration ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
Farm Inputs

Abstract Agriculture is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and must feature in efforts to reduce emissions. Organic farming might contribute to this through decreased use of farm inputs and increased soil carbon sequestration, but it might also exacerbate emissions through greater food production elsewhere to make up for lower organic yields. To date there has been no rigorous assessment of this potential at national scales. Here we assess the consequences for net GHG emissions of a 100% shift to organic food production in England and Wales using life-cycle assessment. We predict major shortfalls in production of most agricultural products against a conventional baseline. Direct GHG emissions are reduced with organic farming, but when increased overseas land use to compensate for shortfalls in domestic supply are factored in, net emissions are greater. Enhanced soil carbon sequestration could offset only a small part of the higher overseas emissions.

scholarly journals Mitigation Strategies for Reduction of Embodied Energy and Carbon, in the Construction Systems of Contemporary Quality Architecture

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 3806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Sicignano ◽  
Giacomo Di Ruocco ◽  
Roberta Melella
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Wide Range

The criticality related to the consumption of operational energy and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of existing buildings is clearly decreasing in new buildings due to the strategies tested and applied in recent years in the energy retrofit sector. Recently, studies have been focusing on strategies to reduce environmental impacts related to the entire life cycle of the building organism, with reference to the reduction of embodied energy (and related greenhouse gas emissions) in building materials. As part of EEA’s European EBC project, Annex 57, a wide range of case studies have been promoted with the aim of identifying design strategies that can reduce the embodied energy and related greenhouse gas emissions of buildings. The aim of this paper is to investigate the most common construction systems in the construction industry (concrete, steel, wood) through the analysis of three contemporary architectural works, with the aim of identifying the predisposition for environmental sustainability of each technological system, thus guiding the operators in the sector towards design choices more compatible with the environmental requirements recommended by European legislation.

scholarly journals The Role of Anaerobic Digestion in Reducing Dairy Farm Greenhouse Gas Emissions

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2612
Author(s):  
Alun Scott ◽  
Richard Blanchard
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Dairy Farm ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
N2o Emissions ◽  
Ghg Reduction ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
The Impact

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from dairy farms are significant contributors to global warming. However, much of the published work on GHG reduction is focused on either methane (CH4) or nitrous oxide (N2O), with few, if any, considering the interactions that changes to farming systems can have on both gases. This paper takes the raw data from a year of activity on a 300-cow commercial dairy farm in Northern Ireland to more accurately quantify GHG sources by use of a simple predictive model based on IPCC methodology. Differing herd management policies are examined together with the impact of integrating anaerobic digestion (AD) into each farming system. Whilst significant success can be predicted in capturing CH4 and carbon dioxide (CO2) as biogas and preventing N2O emissions, gains made can be lost in a subsequent process, negating some or all of the advantage. The process of extracting value from the captured resource is discussed in light of current farm parameters together with indications of other potential revenue streams. However, this study has concluded that despite the significant potential for GHG reduction, there is little incentive for widespread adoption of manure-based farm-scale AD in the UK at this time.

scholarly journals The Energy Mix Dilemma and Environmental Sustainability: Interaction among Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Nuclear Energy, Urban Agglomeration, and Economic Growth

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (22) ◽  
pp. 7703
Author(s):  
Abdul Rehman ◽  
Hengyun Ma ◽  
Magdalena Radulescu ◽  
Crenguta Ileana Sinisi ◽  
Loredana Maria Paunescu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Urban Agglomeration ◽  
Causality Test ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Short Run

In this paper we examined the interaction between greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear energy, coal energy, urban agglomeration, and economic growth in Pakistan by utilizing time series data during 1972–2019. The stationarity of the variables was tested through unit root tests, while the ARDL (autoregressive distributed lag) method with long and short-run estimations was applied to reveal the linkages between variables. A unidirectional association between all variables was revealed by performing a Granger causality test under the vector error correction model (VECM) that was extracted during the short-run estimate. Furthermore, the stepwise least squares technique was also utilized to check the robustness of the variables. The findings of long-run estimations showed that GHG emissions, coal energy, and urban agglomeration have an adversative association with economic growth in Pakistan, while nuclear energy showed a dynamic association with the economic growth. The outcomes of short-run estimations also show that nuclear energy has a constructive association with economic growth, while the remaining variables exposed an adversative linkage to economic growth in Pakistan. Similarly, the Granger causality test under the vector error correction model (VECM) outcomes exposes that all variables have unidirectional association. Furthermore, the outcomes of the stepwise least squares technique reveals that GHG emissions and coal energy have an adverse association with economic growth, and variables nuclear energy and urban agglomeration have a productive linkage to the economic growth in Pakistan. GHG emissions are no doubt an emerging issue globally; therefore, conservative policies and financial support are needed to tackle this issue. Despite the fact that Pakistan contributes less to greenhouse gas emissions than industrialized countries, the government must implement new policies to address this problem in order to contribute to environmental sustainability while also enhancing economic development.

scholarly journals Modeling the Effect of Environmentally Sustainable Food Swaps on Nutrient Intake in Pregnant Women

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 3355
Author(s):  
Tian Wang ◽  
Allison Grech ◽  
Hasthi U. Dissanayake ◽  
Sinead Boylan ◽  
Michael R. Skilton
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Dairy Products ◽  
Nutrient Intake ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Nutritional Deficiencies ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Nutrient Adequacy ◽  
Chicken Eggs

Food production greatly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), but there remain concerns that consuming environmentally sustainable foods can increase the likelihood of nutritional deficiencies during pregnancy. We identified commonly consumed foods of pregnant women and determined the effect of their replacement with environmentally sustainable alternatives on nutrient intake and measures of environmental sustainability. Dietary intake data from 171 pregnant women was assessed and foods that contributed the most to energy and protein intake were identified. Of these, foods producing the highest GHG emissions were matched with proposed environmentally sustainable alternatives, and their impact on nutrient provision determined. Meats, grains, and dairy products were identified as important sources of energy and protein. With the highest GHG emissions, beef was selected as the reference food. Proposed alternatives included chicken, eggs, fish, tofu, legumes, and nuts. The most pronounced reductions in CO2 emissions were from replacing beef with tofu, legumes, and nuts. Replacing one serve per week of beef with an isocaloric serve of firm tofu during pregnancy could reduce GHG emissions by 372 kg CO2 eq and increase folate (+28.1 µg/serve) and fiber (+3.3 g/serve) intake without compromising iron (+1.1 mg/serve) intake. Small dietary substitutions with environmentally sustainable alternatives can substantially reduce environmental impact without compromising nutrient adequacy.

Evaluating greenhouse gas mitigation practices in livestock systems: an illustration of a whole-farm approach

2009 ◽  
Vol 147 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. STEWART ◽  
S. M. LITTLE ◽  
K. H. OMINSKI ◽  
K. M. WITTENBERG ◽  
H. H. JANZEN
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Management Scenario ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Agricultural Emissions ◽  
Reduce Emissions

SUMMARYAs agriculture contributes about 0·08 of Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reducing agricultural emissions would significantly decrease total Canadian GHG output. Evaluating mitigation practices is not always easy because of the complexity of farming systems in which one change may affect many processes and associated emissions. The objective of the current study was to compare the effects of selected management practices on net whole-farm emissions, expressed in CO2equivalents (CO2e) from a beef production system, as estimated for hypothetical farms at four disparate locations in western Canada. Whole-farm emissions (t CO2e) per unit of protein output (t) of 11 management systems (Table 2) were compared for each farm using a model based, in part, on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) equations. Compared with the baseline management scenario, maintaining cattle on alfalfa-grass pastures showed the largest decrease (0·53–1·08 t CO2e/t protein) in emissions for all locations. Feeding lower quality forage over winter showed the greatest increase in emissions per unit protein on the southern Alberta (S.AB) and northern Alberta (N.AB) farms, with increases of 1·36 and 2·22 t CO2e/t protein, respectively. Eliminating the fertilization of forages resulted in the largest increase (4·20 t CO2e/t protein) in emissions per unit protein on the Saskatchewan (SK) farm, while reducing the fertilizer rate by half for all crops showed the largest increase (11·40 t CO2e/t protein) on the Manitoba (MB) farm. The findings, while approximate, illustrate the importance of considering all GHGs simultaneously, and show that practices which best reduce emissions may vary among locations. The findings also suggest merit in comparing emissions on the basis of CO2e per unit of protein exported off-farm, rather than on the basis of total CO2e or CO2e per hectare.

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