Americans for Clean Aviation Fuels (ACAF)’s Post

👩🌾 I have with great colleagues worked on a new CONCITO report regarding climate action along the agri-food value chain if a downstream agricultural emissions trading system for meat and dairy processors is established. 📖 The report analyzes how key policy design choices can significantly influence the system's effectiveness and efficiency in reducing livestock GHG emissions. 👇 See the key recommendations below and find the report here: https://lnkd.in/dtMZBcp6 💬 Reach out to Johannes Flatz, Simone Westi Højte, and me if you want to exchange views on the topic. #Climate #CarbonFarming

New CONCITO Report: Climate Action in a Downstream Agricultural Emissions Trading System (AgETS) 🌱 Today, CONCITO has released our latest report analyzing the potential for climate action along the EU agri-food value chain if a downstream AgETS is introduced for meat and dairy processors. As EU agriculture emissions have stagnated over the past 15 years, there is a pressing need for effective policy tools beyond the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is why we have been looking into an emissions trading system for agricultural emissions. Our key recommendations: 📊 Set an ambitious and climate-effective emissions cap and ensure an orderly, smooth, and efficient start of the system. 🌱 Incentivize on-farm climate action leading to real and verifiable emissions reductions. 🔒 Separate voluntary credits from the system to ensure environmental integrity, simplicity, and learnings. 🔬 Implement robust and simple monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) for food processors and farmers to support a well-functioning system and sustainable practices. 🔧 Streamline administrative processes and use existing data to reduce administrative costs and encourage broad participation across the agri-food chain. 💰 Target revenues towards climate action, including innovation and climate-friendly consumption, and to mitigate distributional effects. CONCITO recommends emissions trading as a mitigation tool in agriculture and will engage in further discussions about all potential points of obligation and therefore does not have a specific preference for a downstream AgETS. Contact Martin Birk Rasmussen, Johannes Flatz, and me if you'd like to talk about the topic. #EUClimate hashtag #AgETS hashtag #ClimateAction

Super timing Martin Birk Rasmussen , Johannes Bøttcher & Simone Westi Højte ! Your 'Climate action in a downstream agricultural emissions trading system ' report must be read by Agriculture and Food commissioner designate, Christophe Hansen. He was very busy downplaying the importance of agricultural emissions and the role of mandatory ( as opposed to voluntary ) measures at this European Parliament hearing earlier this week. It seems that there might be an emerging false land-use approach in Brussels: '𝐍𝐎 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 (e.g. ETS) - 𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧(e.g. carbon farming) '. His written answers included the following: ‘ We must draw on all sources of income: income from the market, public income support, and new, alternative income sources, such as carbon farming. The ultimate aim of our policy must be to ensure that the market rewards farmers more appropriately while protecting our soils and environment to ensure that the basis for agriculture will be sustained for the generations to come.’ Page 4   ‘I will further explore new business models and opportunities for additional sources of income for farmers, stemming from a climate-neutral and nature-positive economy, such as bioeconomy (valorising residues, waste or biomass) or carbon farming and biodiversity certification (carbon credits and nature credits).’ Page 8 -> full document: https://lnkd.in/eM4e6Ts5 It seems that the European Commission's top political leadership is unwilling and/or unable to recognise that 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐢 & 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐎𝐑 𝐛𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧. I think, I am justifiably hopeful hat Teresa Ribera - due to be heard on 12 November - will set the bar far higher re. ambitions and corresponding measures!

While it is undoubtedly true that today’s agriculture has significant environmental impacts, the impacts are not uniform across producers. In fact, the level of specific impacts among producers ranges from 1 or 2x to 10x, 50x or even 100x, when the data is broken out by decile or by producer. So, if we want to reduce key impacts, we need to know who produces them, where, why, and what it would take to reduce them — in addition to who would pay. The elephant in the room is what the impact of producing food would “cost” if we pivoted to more extensive production systems. We use or have used about half of the available land on the planet to produce food. Do we want to start using the other half? Our goal needs to be to identify and measurably reduce the key environmental impacts by targeting those that produce them. But we also need to foster natural systems by abandoning marginal land and using it to sequester carbon and create environmental services. Markets are needed to make this happen. https://lnkd.in/eCQwdG5r

Did you know agriculture accounts for approximately 12% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.? While only a piece of the larger emissions pie, strategies to reduce agricultural emissions can also come with many benefits – as well as challenges! In a new report, the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis Sustainable Agriculture Catalyzer evaluated the potential for various GHG emission mitigation solutions and identified potential benefits and tradeoffs to farmers, communities, and ecosystems. Read more, https://bit.ly/4bfMwIk

Interesting data provided with appropriate discussion of limitations. However, I am not sure why the government would want to remove the reporting requirements for agriculture emissions from the agriculture industry. Seems especially odd in light of the agriculture sector (eg Fonterra) being keen to tout its green credentials and dispel any hint of greenwashing. I am sure we can rely on Fonterra and the rest of the agriculture sector publicly reporting even if not required to by law. But, it seems to throw doubt on our international credentials for the government to remove required reporting and makes it more difficult for NZ to demand transparency from others. Surely such action should wait until it has completed and demonstrated the effectiveness of “... progressing work to enable the measurement of on-farm emissions in 2025, using a standardised farm-level methodology that the Government has developed”.

📣 Just Launched! 2 new reports from the @Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), @WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development and @We Mean Business Coalition aim to support the food sector to mitigate 9 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in company #ValueChains by 2030 – roughly ½ of all global #FoodSystem emissions. Report 1 in the series supports food sector companies to understand priority voluntary frameworks for climate and nature, how they relate to each other, and their increasing influence on sustainability regulation. Report 2 supports the food sector to assess the financial costs and benefits of implementing a range of climate change mitigation solutions, capable of reducing 90% of agricultural and land use change emissions in company #ValueChains by 2030. That’s ½ of all global #FoodSystem emissions! Download the reports to find out how companies can advance a more sustainable, equitable, resilient and #FutureFit food sector 🌱https://lnkd.in/ebEqA6va

What action to take to reduce GHG emissions in the food system? Check out our framework for action to meet the goals set by SBTi. 👨🏻🌾📉✅ Food and agriculture organizations working to reduce #emissions and meet goals set by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) may find themselves struggling with complexities inherent to the industry and wondering where to place their priorities, energy, and investment — which is why we've collaborated with the Environmental Defense Fund and EDF + Business to create a framework for action focused on 6️⃣ key #commodities:  🐄 Beef 🥛 Dairy 🐓 Chicken  🌽 Corn 🫛 Soy 🌾 Wheat Read on, and learn how to act, advocate, and advance solutions for each commodity: https://lnkd.in/g4kW-JCP

There are numerous options for reducing emissions from agriculture—where do we start? Check out this new report by the Sustainable Agriculture Catalyzer to learn more ⬇️

Agriculture and land-use-change emissions within company value chains account for nearly half of all global food system emissions (10 out of 21 GtCO2e in 2030), but as new #FutureFit reports highlight, the burden of implementing climate and nature solutions does not fall equitably across the value chain - nor will the benefits of implementation be shared by all. Companies must reassess how they engage with farmers and governments, otherwise they will struggle to deliver on urgent sustainability commitments. A critical first step is understanding the costs and benefits of the transition and creating transparency on the relative ability of different actors to contribute to the costs and share in the benefits. https://lnkd.in/eJNUFDEZ #FutureFit Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU) WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development We Mean Business Coalition A special thanks to the amazing team that worked on this! Kitty Parker Brooks Luke Pritchard Kate Newbury-Hyde Paul Limpens Alexandre L'Heureux Elizabeth Petykowski Natasha Mawdsley Talia Smith Morgan Gillespy Christine Delivanis and Liz Kirk, and many others!