Browsing by Subject "Kohlenstoffsenke"

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    Biogenic Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agriculture in Europe - Quantification and Mitigation
    (2002) Freibauer, Annette; Zeddies, Jürgen
    This dissertation analyses relevant potential mitigation strategies of biogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the agriculture of the European Union (EU) in light of the Kyoto Protocol. It identifies where important sources and mitigation potentials are located and what uncertainty, environmental ancillary effects and costs are associated with them. Literature reviews are performed and methodologies for environmental assessment and GHG accounting are further developed. On this basis, GHG emissions are quantified and reduction potentials are assessed at European level. In 1995, European agriculture emitted 0.84 ± 0.29 Tg N2O, 8.1 ± 1.9 Tg methane (CH4) and 39 Tg ± 25 carbon dioxide (CO2), which adds up to 470 ± 80 Tg CO2-equivalents or 11% of the overall anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions of the EU. The detailed methodology developed here adequately resolves regional specifics of agricultural conditions and reduces the methodological uncertainty in the estimates to half of the one in the official national inventories. European agricultural soils will at maximum sequester carbon in the order of 100 Tg a-1 CO2 over the coming years, which may also provide other environmental benefits. The biological potential of bioenergy in the EU allows to substitute for 400 to 800 Tg a-1 CO2-equivalents. From an environmental perspective, the use of perennials, especially of residues and woody biomass, is preferable to intensively grown annual crops. The biological potential for technical GHG reduction measures in EU agriculture is between 100 and 200 Tg a-1 CO2-equivalents. Promising measures promote the extensivation of arable cropping by reducing nitrogen inputs, technological innovation in animal husbandry, which is best accompanied by a further decline in animal numbers, as well as rewetting drained organic soils. Most measures will provide ancillary environmental benefits. Changing the socio-economic and political frame conditions may enhance the GHG mitigation potential.