Agriculture and climate change: Potential for mitigation in Spain

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Environmental Science
• Climate Change Mitigation

Background:

• Agriculture and forestry are significant sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
• These sectors also present low-cost mitigation opportunities compared to other industries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate the mitigation potential of the entire Spanish agricultural sector.
• To identify a cost-effective mix of mitigation measures for agriculture.

Main Methods:

• Selection of cost-effective and high-abatement potential mitigation measures.
• Identification of an efficient mitigation mix using a social cost of carbon of €40/tCO2e.
• Analysis of measures including crop fertilization adjustment and forest carbon sequestration.

Main Results:

• An efficient mix of measures can achieve an annual abatement potential of 10 million tCO2e.
• This represents a 28% reduction in current agricultural emissions in Spain.
• Mitigation potential increases with a higher social cost of carbon, potentially covering manure application costs.

Conclusions:

• Optimized crop fertilization and forest management offer substantial GHG mitigation in Spanish agriculture.
• Economic instruments like taxes may serve as supplementary measures for agricultural mitigation.
• Findings support Spanish mitigation efforts and inform national policy design for climate strategies.