Major challenges of integrating agriculture into climate change mitigation policy frameworks.

Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Chang. 2018;23(3):451-468. doi: 10.1007/s11027-017-9743-2. Epub 2017 Apr 12. Fellmann T1, Witzke P2, Weiss F3, Van Doorslaer B1, Drabik D4, Huck I1, Salputra G1, Jansson T5, Leip A3. Author information 1 European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate Sustainable Resources, Seville, Spain. 2 EuroCARE, Bonn, Germany. 3 European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate Sustainable Resources, Ispra, Italy. 4 4Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. 5 5Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. Abstract Taking the European Union (EU) as a case study, we simulate the application of non-uniform national mitigation targets to achieve a sectoral reduction in agricultural non-carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Scenario results show substantial impacts on EU agricultural production, in particular, the livestock sector. Significant increases in imports and decreases in exports result in rather moderate domestic consumption impacts but induce production increases in non-EU countries that are associated with considerable emission leakage effects. The results underline four major challenges for the general integration of agriculture into national and global climate change mitigation policy frameworks and strategies, as they strengthen requests for (1) a targeted but flexible implementation of mitigation obligations at national and global level and (2) the need for a wider consideration of technological mitigation options. The results also indicate that a globally effective reduction in agricultural emissions requires (3) multilateral commitments for agriculture to limit emission leakage and may have to (4) consider options that tackle the reduction in GHG emissions from the consumption side. KEYWORDS: Agriculture; Climate change; Emissions; Mitigation; Policy PMID: 30093833 PMCID: PMC6054014 DOI: 10.1007/s11027-017-9743-2 Free PMC Article