Speaker
Description
The agri-food sector is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, yet the factors shaping its long-term emission trends remain insufficiently understood. Here, we quantify the drivers of agri-food GHG emissions - demand, technology, and geography - using an environmentally extended multiregional input-output model and structural decomposition analysis. The GHG emissions footprint of global food consumption rose from 8.8 Gt CO2-eq in 1990 to 9.2 Gt CO2-eq in 2020, a modest increase of 5% considering that global food calorie demand rose by 61% over the same period. The relatively stable global trend is the result of opposing focus that offset one another and hides regional variation. Positive drivers like population growth and higher per capita food demand have been counterbalanced by reduced emission intensity and shifts to low-emission intermediary sectors. While the impact of demand (+4.95 Gt CO2-eq) and technology (-5.04 Gt CO2-eq) have been large, the geographical origin of goods has played a smaller role (+0.49 Gt CO2-eq). At the regional level, the footprint of food consumption rose in Africa and Asia and declined in the Americas, Europe, Eurasia, and Oceania. For instance in Europe, the footprint of food consumption declined with 30%, from 917 Mt CO2-eq in 1990 to 643 Mt CO2-eq in 2020. While the global agri-food sector’s ability to decouple emissions growth from production expansion is a notable achievement, it has is still a long way to go to achieve climate neutrality.
| If your abstract is not accepted for an oral presentation, would you be interested in presenting it as a poster instead? | No |
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| If accepted by the Scientific Board, I agree to have my presentation/poster and abstract published on the Belgian Climate Centre websites and social media. | Yes |
