Apples to kangaroos: A framework for developing internationally comparable carbon emission factors for crop and livestock products

Hawkins, Jacob; Ma, Chunbo; Schilizzi, Steven; Zhang, Fan

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.08.060

Cited by 8 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…As shown in numerous studies, the CEFs for agricultural products vary widely from nation to nation, from region to region or even from farm to farm based on different production practices (Dyer et al 2010;Herrero et al 2011;O'Mara 2011;Hawkins et al 2016). Along with geographic heterogeneity, it is also important to consider how CEFs change over time as production processes become more or less CO 2 -efficient or -intensive (Cederberg et al 2013;Lin et al 2014).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, a review of the literature finds that while CEFs for certain food or in particular nations have been studied to a greater or lesser degree, the assumptions upon which the CEFs are made vary widely, raising questions as to their comparability between studies (Flysjo et al 2011;Herrero et al 2011;Desjardins et al 2012;MacLeod et al 2013;Hawkins et al 2016).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As described by Hawkins et al (2016), the FAO provides implied emission factors for livestock products in kg GHG/ head. These emission factors are multiplied by the inverse of the production yield to generate a coefficient of kg GHG/kg of animal product.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As described for the process by Hawkins et al (2016), the CEFs found by Lin et al (2014) for food production in China are used as the benchmark to calibrate the CEFs derived from the FAO data as it is the most comprehensive in scope of the food products studied, the integration of direct and indirect GHG emissions, inclusion of time series data, and aggregates food categories in a manner similar to that of the FAO. Lin et al's study includes the direct emissions sources used by the FAO, such as fertiliser application, direct energy use, enteric fermentation, and manure management but also includes indirect sources such as emissions embodied in agricultural production inputs such as fertiliser and pesticide as well as animal housing, veterinary medicine, and, importantly, animal feed.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lin et al (2014 calculate the carbon intensities using both direct and indirect GHG sources, including fertiliser and pesticide production, fertiliser application, enteric fermentation, manure management and direct energy use as well as indirect sources such as facilities, veterinary medicine and feed. By combining implied emission factors derived from FAO data with Lin et al's carbon emission factors (CEF) as a benchmark (Hawkins et al 2016), this study is the first to account for direct and indirect GHG sources over time and in conjunction with structural change and increased consumption levels to determine how China's changing preferences for different crop and livestock products affect GHG emissions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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China's changing diet and its impacts on greenhouse gas emissions: an index decomposition analysis

Hawkins

Schilizzi

et al. 2017

Aus J Agri & Res Econ

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With increasing awareness of agriculture's contribution to global greenhouse gases (GHGs) and China's position as the world's top GHG emitter, there is heightened attention to the embodied emissions in China's food consumption. China's diet has shifted to include more fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy. Not surprisingly, GHG emissions from food consumption have also increased substantially. This analysis links China's food consumption with the emissions of food production industries in China and its trade partners to determine the effects of dietary change on GHGs since 1989. We utilise high-resolution food production and emissions data to perform a logarithmic mean Divisia index decomposition to attribute changes in GHG emissions to the scale, supply structure, demand structure and efficiency effects resulting from Chinese dietary changes over a 20-year period. This study finds that while countries supplying food to China contribute little to China's food-related GHGs, demands for meat and dairy play a much larger role, driving up emissions. The overall scale of increased consumption of all food further propels growth in GHG emissions. Results indicate, however, that while food consumption in China more than doubles between 1989 and 2009 improvements in technological efficiency limit the rate of increase.

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Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

China's changing diet and its impacts on greenhouse gas emissions: an index decomposition analysis

Hawkins

Schilizzi

et al. 2017

Aus J Agri & Res Econ

Self Cite

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The evolution and research framework of carbon footprint: Based on the perspective of knowledge mapping

Yang

Meng

2020

Ecological Indicators

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Availability of disaggregated greenhouse gas emissions from beef cattle production: A systematic review

Lynch

2019

Environmental Impact Assessment Review

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Agriculture is a significant source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and beef cattle are particularly emissions intensive. GHG emissions are typically expressed as a carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) ‘carbon footprint’ per unit output. The 100-year Global Warming Potential (GWP 100 ) is the most commonly used CO 2 e metric, but others have also been proposed, and there is no universal reason to prefer GWP 100 over alternative metrics. The weightings assigned to non-CO 2 GHGs can differ significantly depending on the metric used, and relying upon a single metric can obscure important differences in the climate impacts of different GHGs. This loss of detail is especially relevant to beef production systems, as the majority of GHG emissions (as conventionally reported) are in the form of methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O), rather than CO 2 . This paper presents a systematic literature review of harmonised cradle to farm-gate beef carbon footprints from bottom-up studies on individual or representative systems, collecting the emissions data for each separate GHG, rather than a single CO 2 e value. Disaggregated GHG emissions could not be obtained for the majority of studies, highlighting the loss of information resulting from the standard reporting of total GWP 100 CO 2 e alone. Where individual GHG compositions were available, significant variation was found for all gases. A comparison of grass fed and non-grass fed beef production systems was used to illustrate dynamics that are not sufficiently captured through a single CO 2 e footprint. Few clear trends emerged between the two dietary groups, but there was a non-significant indication that under GWP 100 non-grass fed systems generally appear more emissions efficient, but under an alternative metric, the 100-year global temperature potential (GTP 100 ), grass-fed beef had lower footprints. Despite recent focus on agricultural emissions, this review concludes there are insufficient data available to fully address important questions regarding the climate impacts of agricultural production, and calls for researchers to include separate GHG emissions in addition to aggregated CO 2 e footprints.

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Apples to kangaroos: A framework for developing internationally comparable carbon emission factors for crop and livestock products

Cited by 8 publications

References 28 publications

China's changing diet and its impacts on greenhouse gas emissions: an index decomposition analysis

China's changing diet and its impacts on greenhouse gas emissions: an index decomposition analysis

The evolution and research framework of carbon footprint: Based on the perspective of knowledge mapping

Availability of disaggregated greenhouse gas emissions from beef cattle production: A systematic review

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