what percentage of greenhouse gases are produced by agriculture

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11%

What percentage of greenhouse gases come from agriculture vs fossil fuels?

Globally, the primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions are electricity and heat (31%), agriculture (11%), transportation (15%), forestry (6%) and manufacturing (12%). Energy production of all types accounts for 72 percent of all emissions.

Is agriculture the largest producer of greenhouse gases?

Farms emitted 6 billion tonnes of GHGs in 2011, or about 13 percent of total global emissions. That makes the agricultural sector the world’s second-largest emitter, after the energy sector (which includes emissions from power generation and transport).

What are the top 3 sources of greenhouse gases?

Fossil fuels include coal, oil, and natural gas. When these are burned or when nuclear energy is created, the emissions don’t have anywhere to go, so they stay trapped within our atmosphere. Green energy (also known as clean energy or renewable energy) is the key to reducing this huge source of greenhouse gases.

How much does farming contribute to global warming?

Right now, agriculture generates an estimated 25% of annual greenhouse gas emissions, according to the WRI; that’s when you combine food production and the land-use changes associated with farming, such as clearing vegetation and plowing.

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A Background on Greenhouse Gases

Greenhouse Gases and Farming

  • The top three greenhouse gas–emitting groups globally are China, the European Union and the United States—combined they contribute 41.5% of total global emissions. Efforts to decrease emissions in these sectors of the world are paramount in decreasing overall gas emissions and the impacts of the greenhouse effect. Here in the United States, there a…

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Efforts to Decrease Emissions

  • While there is much work to be done to reduce emissions from the above-mentioned sectors, there are various activities in progress to reduce emissions from land and crops, livestock, and manure management. For instance, farmers are fertilizing crops with enhanced nitrogen monitoring—too much nitrogen can contribute to higher nitrous oxide emissions without enhanc…

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Summary

Agriculture contributes towards climate change through greenhouse gas emissions and by the conversion of non-agricultural land such as forests into agricultural land. In 2019 the IPCC reported that 13%-21% of anthropogenic greenhouse gasses came specifically from the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Uses Sector (AFOLU). Emissions from agriculture of nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxidemake up to half of the greenhouse-gases produced by the overall fo…

Agriculture contributes towards climate change through greenhouse gas emissions and by the conversion of non-agricultural land such as forests into agricultural land. In 2019 the IPCC reported that 13%-21% of anthropogenic greenhouse gasses came specifically from the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Uses Sector (AFOLU). Emissions from agriculture of nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxidemake up to half of the greenhouse-gases produced by the overall fo…

Overview

Agricultural activities emit the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane.
Carbon dioxide emissions come from things such as tillingof fields, planting of crops, and even the shipment of crops or food cultivated to markets for revenue. Agricultural related emissions of carbon dioxide account for around 24% of th…

Land use

Agriculture contributes to greenhouse gas increases through land use in four main ways:
• CO2 releases linked to deforestation
• Methane releases from rice cultivation
• Methane releases from enteric fermentation in cattle

Livestock

Livestock and livestock-related activities such as deforestation and increasingly fuel-intensive farming practices are responsible for over 18% of human-made greenhouse gas emissions, including:
• 9% of global carbon dioxide emissions
• 35–40% of global methane emissions (chiefly due to enteric fermentation and manure)

Soil erosion

Large scale farming can cause large amounts of soil erosion, causing between 25 and 40 percent of soil to reach water sources, with it carrying the pesticides and fertilizers used by farmers, thus polluting bodies of water further. The trend to constantly bigger farms has been highest in United States and Europe, due to financial arrangements, contract farming. Bigger farms tend to favour monocu…

Global estimates

In 2019 the IPCC reported that 13%-21% of anthropogenic greenhouse gasses came specifically from the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Uses Sector (AFOLU). Emissions from agriculture of nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide make up to half of the greenhouse-gases produced by the overall food industry, or 80% of agricultural emissions.

Mitigation

Agriculture is often not included in government emissions reductions plans. For example, the agricultural sector is exempt from the EU emissions trading scheme which covers around 40% of the EU greenhouse gas emissions.
Several mitigation measures for use in developed countries have been proposed:
• breeding more resilient crop varieties, and diversification of crop species

See also

• Agroecology
• Climate change and fisheries
• Climate change and meat production
• Effects of climate change on agriculture

Global Emissions by Gas

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At the global scale, the key greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are: 1. Carbon dioxide (CO2): Fossil fuel use is the primary source of CO2. CO2 can also be emitted from direct human-induced impacts on forestry and other land use, such as through deforestation, land clearing for agriculture, and degradation of soils. Li…

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Global Emissions by Economic Sector

  • Global greenhouse gas emissions can also be broken down by the economic activities that lead to their production. 1. Electricity and Heat Production(25% of 2010 global greenhouse gas emissions): The burning of coal, natural gas, and oil for electricity and heat is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions. 2. Industry(21% of 2010…

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Trends in Global Emissions

  • Emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse gases have also increased significantly since 1900. To learn more about past and projected global emissions of non-CO2 gases, please see the EPA report, Global Anthropogenic Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 1990-2020.

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Emissions by Country

  • In 2014, the top carbon dioxide (CO2) emitters were China, the United States, the European Union, India, the Russian Federation, and Japan. These data include CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion, as well as cement manufacturing and gas flaring. Together, these sources represent a large proportion of total global CO2emissions. Emissions and sinks related to changes in land …

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