Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets
Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets
Michael A. Clark1, Nina G. G. Domingo2, Kimberly Colgan2, Sumil K. Thakrar2, David Tilman3,4, John Lynch5, Inês L. Azevedo6,7, Jason D. Hill2
1Oxford Martin School and Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
2Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.
3Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.
4Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
5Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
6Department of Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
7Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford, CA, USA
The Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the increase in global temperature to 1.5° or 2°C above preindustrial levels requires rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Although reducing emissions from fossil fuels is essential for meeting this goal, other sources of emissions may also preclude its attainment. We show that even if fossil fuel emissions were immediately halted, current trends in global food systems would prevent the achievement of the 1.5°C target and, by the end of the century, threaten the achievement of the 2°C target. Meeting the 1.5°C target requires rapid and ambitious changes to food systems as well as to all nonfood sectors. The 2°C target could be achieved with less-ambitious changes to food systems, but only if fossil fuel and other nonfood emissions are eliminated soon.
Publication details
Clark, M., Domingo, N.G.G., Colgan, K., Thakrar, S.K. et al. Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets. Science 06 Nov 2020:
Vol. 370, Issue 6517, pp. 705-708, DOI: 10.1126/science.aba7357
