Interesting article that highlights the climate benefits of international agricultural trade:
"In 2017/2019, the annual potential GHG emissions reductions through trade of final proteins reached as much as 0.53 Gt CO2eq/y, equivalent to 4.4% of the global annual emission from agricultural system during 2017 to 2019."
The authors see an opportunity that European countries with low emissions in livestock production could lower global emission by exporting these products to countries with significantly higher emissions:
"Increase of domestic protein production in the low intensity livestock production importing countries also shows considerable potential for countries such as the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom (UK), and Germany. More protein could then remain in these countries and be available for import by the high-intensity importing countries, such as China and Indonesia."
This is in contrast to the widely spread opinion that lowering animal numbers in the EU will lead to lower emissions globally.
PNASNews@PNASNews
Agriculture causes a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. After a declining trend, emissions per unit of protein plateaued a decade ago—and have even ticked up in some countries, due to increases in livestock and changes in land use. In PNAS: ow.ly/Bx7P50SYQJm
English
