About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (May 11, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govegrh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional P art cry Updated May 11, 2022 Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks in U.S. Agriculture Agriculture and land-use activities continue to play a central role in the broader debate about energy and climate policy options in the United States and abroad. Such activities offer opportunities to remove greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the atmosphere, potentially reducing the nation's net emissions: the metric of emissions targets for the Paris Agreement (PA), the binding international climate change treaty. Pursuant to the PA, the Biden Administration released a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in 2021 specifying a new U.S. target of reducing net GHG emissions by 50%-52% below 2005 levels by 2030. Most federal legislative proposals to reduce U.S. GHG emissions would not require reductions in agriculture, but some would incentivize voluntary actions to do so. The Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021 (S. 1251/H.R. 2820) would support voluntary agriculture and forestry carbon markets by establishing a voluntary certification program for technical assistance providers and third -party verifiers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Agriculture is both a source and a sink of GHGs (Figure 1). Sources generate GHG emissions that are released into the atmosphere and contribute to global climate change. Sinks remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and store carbon through physical or biological processes. Agricultural emissions include many GHGs of interest to policymakers: CO2, methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N20). Agricultural sinks remove CO2 through photosynthesis and store carbon in plants and soil. Despite these sinks, U.S. agriculture is a net GHG source. This In Focus discusses emissions from the agriculture sector, as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the most recent data available (from 2020). U.S. G HG Inventory Since the 1990s, EPA has prepared an annual Inventory of U.S. GHG Emissions and Sinks. USDA and other federal agencies contribute data and analyses. The Inventory Figure I. Examples of Greenhouse Gas Emission Sour reports GHG estimates by sector, source, and GHG type. The Inventory presents GHG estimates as C02-equivalents, aggregated to millions of metric tons (MMTCO2e). C02- equivalents convert an amount of a GHG, such as N20, to the amount of CO2 that could have a similar impact on global temperature over a specific duration (100 years in the Inventory). This common measurement can help compare the magnitudes of various GHG sources and sinks. The Inventory presents GHG estimates for two types of sectorclassifications. One classification follows international standards. Every country preparing its national inventory considers the same GHG sources and sinks for the same standard sectors. These include an agriculture sector and a land-use, land-use change andforestry (LULUCF) sector. The Inventory also reports estimates for several EPA-defined economic sectors,including agriculture, transportation, electricity, industry, commercial, and residential. Under this format, the agriculture sectorincludes emissions from fuel-combustion by farm equipment (e.g., tractors) as well as the emission sources already accounted for in the international standard sector for agriculture. Agricultural G HG Emissions EPA reports that agriculture sector emissions totaled 635.1 MMTCO2e in 2020 (Table 1), equal to 11% of total U.S. GHG emissions (Figure 2). This estimate is based on certain assumptions and includes direct emissions from agricultural activities (see text below for major emissions sources in agriculture). It does not include * Potentially offsetting agricultural sinks. * Forestry activities, which are accounted for in LULUCF. * Emissions from generating the electricity that farms use. * Emissions from activities in the food systemmore broadly, such as production of agricultural inputs and post-harvest transportation and processing offoods. ces and Sinks from Agricultural Activities Source: CRS. Note: Enteric fermentation refers to digestive processes in ruminant animals, which result in GHG emissions.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most