Publication Date

6-2022

Publisher

DPIRD

City

Perth

Abstract

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report found that climate impacts are appearing earlier and are more severe than expected. The world faces multiple unavoidable climate hazards over the next two decades with global warming of 1.5ºC and accelerated action is required to avoid mortality and loss of biodiversity and infrastructure.

Achieving Climate Resilience requires both climate adaptation and mitigation of Greenhouse Gases which are accelerating climate change. Western Australia is committed to building resilience of the agriculture industry and as part of that is focussed on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at both an industry and government level.

As part of this challenge the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) is working with industry and stakeholder groups to develop emissions reduction solutions for the WA agriculture sector. Engagement has commenced across the livestock, grains, horticulture, rangelands and intensive livestock industries. Detailed analysis and scenario modelling will be undertaken to develop practical and effective abatement options, including shared transition pathways.

Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are calculated at a national/state level and at an enterprise/product level using different approaches.

Australia’s state and national emissions are calculated using a set of rules outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). These state and national emissions are reported through the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (NGHGI), which is used to report our emissions to the world and compare global emissions on a country-by-country basis.

Industry and farm businesses can measure emissions at a product or farm/enterprise level using life cycle analysis (LCA) or farm business/enterprise carbon accounts. Product-level analyses generate emission intensities for specific products (e.g., emissions per unit of milk, meat, wool). Carbon accounts quantify the total emissions generated at a farm business/enterprise level and for each product produced by the business. LCAs and farm carbon accounts include both on-farm emissions and emissions that occur pre-farmgate (from purchased inputs such as fertiliser etc). They can also include carbon sequestration activities.

Unlike LCAs and farm carbon accounts, NGHGI reporting for the Agriculture sector does not include emissions generated during the manufacture and transport of agricultural inputs – such as fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides and agricultural machinery. Instead, these emissions are captured in the NGHGI Energy sector reporting. Also, any changes in on-farm carbon stocks from tree planting/harvest or soil carbon fluxes are accounted for in the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector rather than the Agriculture sector (Table 5).

This report is broken into two parts:

1. A summary of GHG emissions as reported by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (NGHGI)

2. A summary of industry generated carbon accounts using life cycle analysis (LCA) or farm business/enterprise carbon accounts

to generate a baseline of GHG emissions for the WA agriculture sector and for each industry represented within the sector.

Number of Pages

65

Keywords

climate change, climate impacts, climate resilience, emissions, emissions reduction

Disciplines

Climate

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