Tóm tắt

NFU Cymru and the NFU have set the ambitious goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) across the whole of agriculture in Wales and England by 2040. This is our contribution to Welsh Government’s ambition of net zero by 2050.Agriculture is uniquely placed to be part of the solution, as both an emissions source and a sink. As farmers we have a special responsibility to protect carbon reserves already in our soils and vegetation. But we must and we can do more. We know emissions from Welsh farms presently amount to 5.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent a year – approximately 12 per cent of Welsh GHG emissions. But in stark contrast to the rest of the economy only 10 per cent of this is CO2. Around 62 per cent is methane (CH4) and 28% is nitrous dioxide (N2O).Our assessment is that we can only deliver net zero if we act across a range of internationally recognised inventories. Based on the latest scientiu001fc evidence, our approach has been discussed with the Committee on Climate Change, so we believe our aim is challenging, but attainable, given the right incentives.There is no single answer to this problem. To achieve our aim we will need a range of measures that fall under three broad headings:• Improving farming’s productive efu001fciency;• Improving land management and enhancing land use to capture more carbon;• Boosting renewable energy and the wider bioeconomy