Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets

By Michael A. Clark, Nina G. G. Domingo, Kimberly K Colgan, S. Thakrar, David Tilman, J. Lynch, Inês Lima Azevedo, Jason D. Hill. Science, 2020

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Thought for food To have any hope of meeting the central goal of the Paris Agreement, which is to limit global warming to 2°C or less, our carbon emissions must be reduced considerably, including those coming from agriculture. Clark et al. show that even if fossil fuel emissions were eliminated immediately, emissions from the global food system alone would make it impossible to limit warming to 1.5°C and difficult even to realize the 2°C target. Thus, major changes in how food is produced are needed if we want to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Science, this issue p. 705 Concerted efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from food production are necessary to limit increases in global temperature. The Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the increase in global temperature to 1.5° or 2°C above preindustrial levels requires rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Although reducing emissions from fossil fuels is essential for meeting this goal, other sources of emissions may also preclude its attainment. We show that even if fossil fuel emissions were immediately halted, current trends in global food systems would prevent the achievement of the 1.5°C target and, by the end of the century, threaten the achievement of the 2°C target. Meeting the 1.5°C target requires rapid and ambitious changes to food systems as well as to all nonfood sectors. The 2°C target could be achieved with less-ambitious changes to food systems, but only if fossil fuel and other nonfood emissions are eliminated soon.

Subfields: Ecology, Environmental Engineering, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/609ac79ed8ebd0cc6b9d2e2c799360c321e4d93f