Why focus on farm carbon?
The Climate Change Act has committed the UK to bring its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
The agriculture sector finds itself cast as both a saint and a sinner when it comes to climate change. The industry is unique in that it finds itself as a significant source of GHG emissions but also has a huge potential to mitigate climate change.
Farmers and landowners are looking at a twinned approach – reducing GHG emissions by improving productivity, and increasing the amount of carbon being sequestered by land use changes.
What can be done now? The mantra “if you can measure it, you can manage it” will be familiar to anyone running a business. Carbon accounting is no different. Carbon accounting is the process by which organisations quantify their GHG emissions.
This process measures the GHG emissions associated with an individual farm, estate or enterprise alongside the carbon that is being locked up through sequestration.
This carbon account can then be used to help decision-making around three key areas – where emissions can be avoided; where emissions can be reduced; and where unavoidable emissions can be removed by sequestration.
Dan Matthews, Strutt and Parker
