Our work in the agriculture sector helps countries identify increasingly ambitious actions, policies and targets across the food system. Guided by a priority to enhance food security and livelihoods, we demonstrate solutions to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) that deliver quick benefits for the climate and air quality.
There are many practical options that improve resilience while reducing emissions in the agriculture, forest and land use and sector, and there are economic, environmental and social co-benefits that can accompany more ambitious immediate action.
- Qu Dongyu, FAO Director-General, at the CCAC 2019 High Level Assembly
Agriculture contributes around 11% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. With land-use change, this rises to around 25%. The effects of climate change are already negatively impacting agricultural production, increasing hunger and hurting farmers.
Transforming the agriculture sector, and our global food system, to emit less and be more resilient is critical to ensuring food security and preserving the livelihoods of millions of farmers and food workers.
Our work aims to raise ambition in 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to include actions to reduce agricultural SLCP emissions. To get there, we are building a group of leaders in the field and raising awareness about the actions that can be taken now.
We assist countries with tools and capacity-building to identify increasingly ambitious actions, policies and targets, while also supporting strengthened coordination at the national level. To unlock the potential for scale-up, we work to marshall evidence that enables financing for large-scale climate impact.
The CCAC’s agriculture work can assist partners to set ambitious but realistic targets for their agricultural emissions.
- Aupito William Sio, New Zealand's Minister for Pacific Peoples, at the 2019 CCAC High Level Assembly
In order to raise ambition in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) we showcase best practices to reduce agricultural methane and black carbon emissions.
The practices we promote:
In addition to helping reduce the rate of near-term warming, these practices can provide immediate benefits for public health, food security and economic development.
Many of the practices will also lead to increased agricultural productivity, and contribute to the implementation of countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). That means they are also aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and low-emissions agricultural development.
The CCAC has helped governments identify ambitious actions, policies and targets to cut short-lived climate pollutant emissions from enteric methane, rice, manure, and burning. Our work has laid the foundation for action by establishing locally appropriate, affordable and technically feasible measures. Our key achievements include:
National policy
29 CCAC partners have included specific agriculture measures in their updated NDCs. 16 mention enteric fermentation, 15 manure management, 11 rice production, and 8 open burning.
Paddy rice
Livestock
14 countries demonstrated the potential for reducing enteric methane to stimulate immediate investments.
Open burning
Other
Leveraged $461,100,000 in co-funding for SLCP mitigation in agriculture
Helped 4 countries include mitigation from agriculture in their NDCs.
Lead Partner: A Coalition partner with an active role in coordinating, monitoring and guiding the work of an initiative.
Implementer: A Coalition partner or actor receiving Coalition funds to implement an activity or initiative.
Our Agriculture Initiative supports countries to identify increasingly ambitious actions, policies and targets across the food system. This infosheet outlines the Agriculture Initiative's...
The website, fao.org/in-action/enteric-methane/en/, provides information and findings from the FAO project working on beef production systems in South America and Dairy Production systems in...
This website serves as an information kiosk for greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation options in rice production systems. It covers rice management practices, data on biophysical and...
The Manure Knowledge Kiosk is a platform for knowledge exchange, outreach and capacity building on integrated manure management. The kiosk is supported by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC...
The website - openburningcryosphere.org - provides detailed information on the Climate and Clean Air Coalition's (CCAC...
Methane, a greenhouse gas with a warming potential more than 80 times higher than CO2 over a 20-year time frame, is responsible for half a degree Celsius of warming to date. Methane’s...
This report is a product of the Global Methane Assessment (GMA) that details projections of anthropogenic methane emissions through 2030 under various baseline scenarios and assesses the...
CH4 emission from animal manure management refers to the CH4 produced during the storage, treatment and land application of animal manure. The term “manure” is the feces (solid part) and...
For manure management sector, CH4 was produced when the organic matter in the manure was anaerobically decomposed by the methanogens. Therefore, CH4 emission can be happened during the...
Livestock numbers in China have more than tripled between 1980 and 2017. The increase in the number of intensive livestock production systems has created the challenges of decoupled crop and...
Animal manure is a useful resource when handled carefully, but it can also be a source of significant problems and public health issues when handled incorrectly. Animal manure handling may provide...
This paper will refer major productivity parameters of 2025 and 2030 to those of 2016, the base year, including the share of feed quality and production yield, farming model (large-scale, small...
