Crop Production Pushes up Greenhouse Gases Emissions in China: Evidence from Carbon Footprint Analysis Based on National Statistics Data

Wang, Xiaolong; Chen, Yun; Chen, Xiaowei; He, Rong‐Rong; Guan, Yueshan; Gu, Yawen; Chen, Yong

doi:10.3390/su11184931

Cited by 25 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Our study presents a spatially explicit carbon footprint map for wheat and maize production at the county level in China. The mean GHG emission intensity of wheat and maize in our study is estimated at 0.56 (25 and 75% range: 0.50–0.73) kg CO 2 e kg –1 and 0.40 (0.36–0.56) kg CO 2 e kg –1 , respectively, which fall in the range of previous estimates ,,− but are on the lower end (Figure ). These previous studies were at the national or provincial level.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Closing Greenhouse Gas Emission Gaps of Staple Crops in China

Liu

et al. 2022

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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China is facing the dual challenge of achieving food security and agricultural carbon neutrality. Developing spatially explicit crop emission profiles can help inform policy to mitigate agricultural greenhouse gases (GHGs), but previous life-cycle studies were conducted mostly at national and provincial levels. Here, we estimate county-level carbon footprint of China’s wheat and maize production based on a nationwide survey and determine the contribution of different strategies to closing regional emission gaps. Results show that crop carbon footprint varies widely between regions, from 0.07 to 3.00 kg CO2e kg–1 for wheat and from 0.09 to 2.30 kg CO2e kg–1 for maize, with inter-county variation generally much higher than interprovince variation. Hotspots are mainly concentrated in Xinjiang and Gansu provinces, owing to intensive irrigation and high plastic mulch and fertilizer inputs. Closing the regional emission gaps would benefit mostly from increasing crop yields and nitrogen use efficiency, but increasing manure use (e.g., in Northeast, East, and Central China) and energy use efficiency (e.g., in North and Northwest China) can also make important contributions. Our county-level carbon footprint estimates improve upon previous broad-scale results and will be valuable for detailed spatial analysis and the design of localized GHG mitigation strategies in China.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Closing Greenhouse Gas Emission Gaps of Staple Crops in China

Liu

et al. 2022

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…During crop production, cleaner technologies, which improve agricultural productivity and the efficiency of agricultural machinery operations [59] , can achieve the goals of GHG emissions reduction. At the same time, previous researches [30,60] pointed out that adjustment of crop planting structure is also an effective way to reduce GHG emissions. So this study attempts to use this idea in HLRA.…”

Section: 35mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most previous studies showed that carbon footprint was an effective indicator to develop cleaner agricultural technologies at the operational level. Meanwhile, improving crop planting structure would be also an important way to reduce GHG emissions [30] . At present, researches related to crop planting structure optimization through carbon footprint remain scarce.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon footprint of crop production in Heilongjiang land reclamation area, China

Chu¹,

Yu²,

Wang³

et al. 2022

International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

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In the context of global warming, agriculture, as the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after industry, had attracted widespread attention from all walks of life to reduce agricultural emissions. The carbon footprint of the planting production system of the Heilongjiang Land Reclamation Area (HLRA), an important commodity grain base in China, was evaluated and analyzed in this paper. On this basis, this paper sought feasible strategies to reduce carbon emissions from two aspects: agronomic practices and cropping structure adjustment, which were particularly crucial to promote the low-carbon and sustainable development of agriculture in HLRA. Therefore, using the accounting methods in IPCC and Low Carbon Development and Guidelines for the Preparation of Provincial Greenhouse Gas Inventories compiled by the Chinese government, relevant data were collected from 2000 to 2017 in HLRA and accounted for the carbon emissions of the planting production system in four aspects: carbon emissions from agricultural inputs, N 2 O emissions from managed soils, CH 4 emissions from rice cultivation and straw burning emissions. Then carbon uptake consisted of seeds and straws. Finally, with farmers' incomes were set as the objective function and carbon emissions per unit of gross production value was set as the constraint, this paper simulated and optimized the cropping structure in HLRA. The results showed that there was a "stable-growing-declining" trend in the total carbon emissions and carbon uptake of the planting production system in HLRA, with total carbon emissions of 2.84×10 10 kg and total carbon uptake of 7.49×10 10 kg in 2017. In the past 18 years, carbon emissions per unit area and carbon emissions per unit of gross production had both shown a decreasing trend. To achieve further efficiency gains and emission reductions in the planting production system, it was recommended that the local governments strengthen the comprehensive use of straw resources, optimize irrigation and fertilization techniques, and adjust the cropping structure, i.e., increase the planting area of maize and soybeans and reduce the planting area of rice, and increase subsidies to protect the economic returns of planters.

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“…The total amount of GHGs produced by agricultural systems was 5.41 billion tons [1], accounting for approximately 14% of the total global GHGs [2]. A large number of studies have demonstrated that the excessive application of nitrogen fertilizer was the primary cause of GHG emissions from agricultural systems [3,4]. China is the largest producer and consumer of nitrogen fertilizer in the world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of Soil Carbon Pools and Carbon Management Index to Nitrogen Substitution Treatments in a Sweet Maize Farmland in South China

Chen

Liu

Cai

et al. 2022

Plants

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In China, excessive nitrogen fertilizer application in sweet maize fields contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. This study used maize straw (MS), cow dung (CD), biogas residue (BR), and straw-based biochar (CB) to substitute the mineral nitrogen fertilizer at 20% and 50% ratios in the Pearl River Delta in China. In comparison with a conventional amount of mineral nitrogen fertilizer (CK), the soil organic carbon (SOC) storages of the different treatments increased by 6.5–183.0%. The CB treatment significantly improved the inert organic carbon pool in the soil, while other types of organic materials promoted the formation of activated carbon pools. The treatments increased the soil carbon pool management index by 21.1–111.0% compared to the CK. Moreover, the CB treatments increased the soil carbon sequestration index by 78.3% and 155.8% compared to the CK. In general, substituting the mineral N fertilizer with BR, CB, and CD could improve the SOC accumulation in sweet maize farmland in South China. The CB at the high substitution level was the best measure for stabilizing carbon sequestration in the sweet maize cropping system. This experiment provides valuable information for ensuring the clean production of sweet maize in a typical subtropical area in East Asia.

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Crop Production Pushes up Greenhouse Gases Emissions in China: Evidence from Carbon Footprint Analysis Based on National Statistics Data

Cited by 25 publications

References 38 publications

Closing Greenhouse Gas Emission Gaps of Staple Crops in China

Closing Greenhouse Gas Emission Gaps of Staple Crops in China

Carbon footprint of crop production in Heilongjiang land reclamation area, China

Responses of Soil Carbon Pools and Carbon Management Index to Nitrogen Substitution Treatments in a Sweet Maize Farmland in South China

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