Climate Change Mitigation
ENVIRONMENT
Limiting global warming to below +1.5°C seems almost out of reach… But defeatism and inaction are not options. The agriculture, forestry and land use (AFOLU) sector, which accounts for almost 1/4 of global GHG emissions, is both part of the problem and part of the solution.
The issues
In its latest report (AR6, 2022), the IPCC estimates that global warming has already reached +1.07°C over the period 2011-2020 compared to the period 1850-1900 and that it could reach +1.4°C to +1.8°C by 2100 in the most optimistic scenarios…and +4.4°C in the most pessimistic scenario. Staying below +1.5°C – the stated goal of the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 – implies drastically reducing GHG emissions immediately, and achieving carbon neutrality (offsetting GHG emissions through carbon sequestration) shortly after 2050. In its special report “Climate Change and Land” (2019), the IPCC estimates that the AFOLU sector accounts for nearly 1/4 of global GHG emissions and more specifically 13% of CO2 (notably due to biomass combustion and soil carbon depletion), 44% of CH4 emissions (notably due to anaerobic fermentation in livestock and rice farming), 82% of N2O emissions (notably due to aerobic fermentation from soil drainage and manure storage, and the use of nitrogen fertiliser). Producing as much in agriculture and livestock farming, while adapting to climate change and limiting the impact of GHGs are the objectives of climate-smart agriculture and agroecology.
Our services
We analyse the GHG emission/absorption profiles of the AFOLU sector, whether on a local or national scale, according to a sectoral or territorial approach, using “source and sink” type analysis methods (IPCC) or “life cycle” type methods (GHG Protocol and other standards/tools). Based on our practical experience and capitalization in terms of climate-smart agriculture and agroecology, we identify possible mitigation practices and help local actors to analyse and prioritize them (technical efficiency? costs/benefits? social acceptability? etc.). We support local actors in the implementation and monitoring-evaluation of pilot mitigation actions, in order to refine and scale them up. In a transversal way, as the concepts, data and tools in terms of mitigation are complex and often poorly known, we provide ad hoc training for various audiences (farmers or stockbreeders, agents of public services or NGOs, policy makers, etc.).
