Countries with sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions: an analysis of trends and progress by sector

Lamb, William F.; Grubb, Michael; Diluiso, Francesca; Minx, Jan C.

doi:10.1080/14693062.2021.1990831

Cited by 104 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Furthermore, since their peaks up to 2018, CO 2 levels in HICs and all selected MENA countries have decreased by about 800 kt and 1000 kt, respectively. This finding is consistent with Lamb et al [ 97 ] who found weak evidence for EKC among richer countries.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

Carbon Neutrality in the Middle East and North Africa: The Roles of Renewable Energy, Economic Growth, and Government Effectiveness

Kong

Zhang

Ntarmah

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Carbon neutrality is a 21st-century priority area, with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries making significant investments in renewable energy and climate mitigation initiatives to attain it. However, carbon neutrality research in the MENA region is under-developed, particularly when considering the roles of renewable energy, economic growth, and effectiveness of government. To address this gap, this research investigates the roles of renewable energy, economic growth, and government effectiveness toward the MENA region’s carbon neutrality goal. We implemented heterogeneous and second-generation panel data techniques that are resilient to cross-sectional dependency and slope heterogeneity to panel data spanning 16 MENA countries from 1996 to 2018. We discovered that MENA data are cross-sectionally dependent, heterogeneous, and cointegrated. We found that government effectiveness and renewable energy bring carbon neutrality closer, but economic growth initially delays it. We detected Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in the MENA region, specifically in the High-Income Countries. Although there were signs of EKC in the Middle-Income Countries, this was not significantly validated. Finally, we found a one-way causal link from government effectiveness and renewable energy to carbon neutrality but a feedback mechanism between economic growth and carbon neutrality in the MENA region. As a result of these findings, it is recommended that the MENA region’s policymakers prioritize renewable energies and improve the effectiveness of government to drive economic growth toward the carbon neutrality goal.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

Carbon Neutrality in the Middle East and North Africa: The Roles of Renewable Energy, Economic Growth, and Government Effectiveness

Kong

Zhang

Ntarmah

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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“…In contrast to these trends, our data suggested that in regions dominated by modern agri-food systems, such as Europe and North America, the overall share of agri-food system emissions in fact increased from 1990 to 2019, specifically from 24 % to 31 % in Europe and from 17 % to 21 % in North America. Such increases could be explained by increases in absolute emissions from pre-and post-production activities (Table 5), re-enforced by concomitant emissions decreases in the non-food sector, especially energy systems (Lamb et al, 2022). The noted increase in absolute emissions from pre-and post-production activities was in fact present in all regions, leading to increases in the relative contributions to agri-food systems of this component, except for Africa.…”

Section: Countrymentioning

confidence: 95%

Pre- and post-production processes increasingly dominate greenhouse gas emissions from agri-food systems

Tubiello

Karl

Flammini

et al. 2022

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

111

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Abstract. We present results from the FAOSTAT emissions shares database, covering emissions from agri-food systems and their shares to total anthropogenic emissions for 196 countries and 40 territories for the period 1990–2019. We find that in 2019, global agri-food system emissions were 16.5 (95 %; CI range: 11–22) billion metric tonnes (Gt CO2 eq. yr−1), corresponding to 31 % (range: 19 %–43 %) of total anthropogenic emissions. Of the agri-food system total, global emissions within the farm gate – from crop and livestock production processes including on-farm energy use – were 7.2 Gt CO2 eq. yr−1; emissions from land use change, due to deforestation and peatland degradation, were 3.5 Gt CO2 eq. yr−1; and emissions from pre- and post-production processes – manufacturing of fertilizers, food processing, packaging, transport, retail, household consumption and food waste disposal – were 5.8 Gt CO2 eq. yr−1. Over the study period 1990–2019, agri-food system emissions increased in total by 17 %, largely driven by a doubling of emissions from pre- and post-production processes. Conversely, the FAOSTAT data show that since 1990 land use emissions decreased by 25 %, while emissions within the farm gate increased 9 %. In 2019, in terms of individual greenhouse gases (GHGs), pre- and post-production processes emitted the most CO2 (3.9 Gt CO2 yr−1), preceding land use change (3.3 Gt CO2 yr−1) and farm gate (1.2 Gt CO2 yr−1) emissions. Conversely, farm gate activities were by far the major emitter of methane (140 Mt CH4 yr−1) and of nitrous oxide (7.8 Mt N2O yr−1). Pre- and post-production processes were also significant emitters of methane (49 Mt CH4 yr−1), mostly generated from the decay of solid food waste in landfills and open dumps. One key trend over the 30-year period since 1990 highlighted by our analysis is the increasingly important role of food-related emissions generated outside of agricultural land, in pre- and post-production processes along the agri-food system, at global, regional and national scales. In fact, our data show that by 2019, pre- and post-production processes had overtaken farm gate processes to become the largest GHG component of agri-food system emissions in Annex I parties (2.2 Gt CO2 eq. yr−1). They also more than doubled in non-Annex I parties (to 3.5 Gt CO2 eq. yr−1), becoming larger than emissions from land use change. By 2019 food supply chains had become the largest agri-food system component in China (1100 Mt CO2 eq. yr−1), the USA (700 Mt CO2 eq. yr−1) and the EU-27 (600 Mt CO2 eq. yr−1). This has important repercussions for food-relevant national mitigation strategies, considering that until recently these have focused mainly on reductions of non-CO2 gases within the farm gate and on CO2 mitigation from land use change. The information used in this work is available as open data with DOI https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5615082 (Tubiello et al., 2021d). It is also available to users via the FAOSTAT database (https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/EM; FAO, 2021a), with annual updates.

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“…2 In principle a country can claim credit for reducing its territorial emissions while maintaining its consumption pattern and lifestyle, by outsourcing the production of certain (emission-intensive) goods consumed domestically. The growth of international trade, especially with rapid globalization since the early 1990s, begs the question of whether emission reductions increasingly observed in industrialized countries (9) primarily reflect a real mitigation effort or the offshoring of emissions (10,11). A related question is how much of the rapid increase in emissions from some developing countries has been due to rising consumption in industrialized countries.…”

Section: Production Versus Consumption Accounting: the Wedge Between ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon Leakage, Consumption, and Trade

Grubb

Jordan

Hertwich

et al. 2022

Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour.

Self Cite

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We review the state of knowledge concerning international CO2 emission transfers associated particularly with trade in energy-intensive goods and concerns about carbon leakage arising from climate policies. The historical increase in aggregate emission transfers from developing to developed countries peaked around 2006 and declined since. Studies find no evidence that climate policies lead to carbon leakage, but this is partly due to shielding of key industrial sectors, which is incompatible with deep decarbonization. Alternative or complementary consumption-based approaches are needed. Private sector initiatives to trace and address carbon emissions throughout supply chains have grown substantially but cannot compensate for inadequate policy. Three main price-based approaches to tackling carbon leakage are potentially compatible with international trade rules: border adjustments on imports, carbon consumption charges, and climate excise contributions combined with emissions trading. We also consider standards and public procurement options to tackle embodied emissions. Finally, we discuss proposals for carbon clubs involving cooperation among a limited set of countries. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Volume 47 is October 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Countries with sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions: an analysis of trends and progress by sector

Cited by 104 publications

References 38 publications

Carbon Neutrality in the Middle East and North Africa: The Roles of Renewable Energy, Economic Growth, and Government Effectiveness

Carbon Neutrality in the Middle East and North Africa: The Roles of Renewable Energy, Economic Growth, and Government Effectiveness

Pre- and post-production processes increasingly dominate greenhouse gas emissions from agri-food systems

Carbon Leakage, Consumption, and Trade

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