Greenhouse gas figures need more research
More research is needed to introduce a fairer accounting procedure for greenhouse gas emissions and their effects on climate change – and the contributions which different farming systems make to these – before introducing “knee-jerk” policy decisions which could have long term implications.
Speaking after the recently retired chief scientist at Defra, Professor Sir Ian Boyd, had told the BBC that if the UK was serious about reaching “net zero”, fields of grazing cattle and sheep would soon be a thing of the past in the UK, NFU Scotland’s newly appointed climate change policy manager, Ruth Taylor, said that this was not necessarily the case: “There are several trains of thought on emissions – and Scotland’s fields and hills which would struggle to grow crops can produce high-quality meat with minimal external inputs.”
She said that Boyd’s assertion that climate policies after Brexit would dramatically alter farming practices by moving the UK towards more intensive systems which, he claimed, would reduce methane emissions could be challenged on several fronts. “Obviously there is a need to balance efficiency with welfare,” said Taylor, “and consumer concerns are likely to play a big role.”
But Taylor said that recent studies had also shown that methane production might not be as big an issue as has often been supposed. With a much shorter lifespan than CO2, methane was cycled out of the system over a matter of ten or so years.
Taylorbackedtheenglish Nfuresponsewhichmaintained that the inputs for intensive farming tended to create more CO2 which lasted for centuries – while having other environmental impacts, including high water consumption in drought-prone areas and the destruction of rainforests to grow soya.
And she pointed to a study by climate scientists at Oxford University which indicated that the methane produced now by cattle and sheep was only replacing that emitted ten years ago, not adding to it.
The research found that methane from Britain’s ruminants was not causing global warming – and that livestock could help provide a viable pathway to net zero emissions.
The work showed that focusing only on emissions was misleading, pointing out that it was the warming impact which actually mattered – and using this approach highlighted that the current contribution to climate change from UK agricultural methane was less than zero.
And while estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from UK agriculture under the current calculations stood at 46.5 million tonnes CO2 equivalent (MTCO2E), using the new accounting system would see these fall to just 9.5 MTCO2E. Under this procedure, methane’s contribution stood at -10.6 MTCO2E – a negative emission value as the production of this gas had fallen since the base year of 1996.
“Such findings only add to the industry’s belief that agriculture is part of the solution to global warming rather than the problem – and that more research leading to fairer carbon accounting can help highlight this fact.”