Climate mitigation

Mitigating climate change means avoiding and reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere to prevent the planet from warming to more extreme temperatures (preventing global temperatures rising by more than 1.5oC-as set by the Paris Agreement led by the UNFCCC in 2015).  Mitigation efforts to reduce GHG emissions or increasing carbon sinks will lessen the impacts of global warming.

About 10% of the total GHG emissions in Western Australia (WA) in 2021 were attributed to the agriculture sector.

To tackle this challenge, the department led the development of the agriculture and land chapter of the Sectoral Emissions Reduction Strategy (SERS).

To inform industry and stakeholders, the department has produced a report on Greenhouse gas accounting for Western Australian agriculture 2022. The report uses data from the National Inventory Report and relevant literature to analyse agricultural industries’ emissions from a supply chain perspective.

The department has developed a strategy to reduce agricultural emissions, which consists of key actions to assist farmers, growers, and agribusinesses in lowering emissions while producing high-quality, high-value foods and fibres. 

The emissions mitigation hierarchy

Both emissions mitigation and carbon sequestration will be essential for the WA economy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The mitigation hierarchy is a structured approach to help producers and agribusinesses reduce their emissions and carbon footprints. In this approach, four steps are prioritised for reducing emissions:

1. Avoid creating emissions: Identify activities that can be stopped with minimal adverse impacts.
2. Reduce emissions activities: Decrease energy consumption and make activities less emissions intensive. For example, use low emission fertilisers.
3. Replace or substitute: Transition to new low emission technology or energy sources, such as biofuels.
4. Offset or store: Sequester (store) carbon through offsets such as carbon credits or revegetation.

Climate change mitigation research

Governments, industry bodies and research institutions are investing considerable financial resources into the research and development of technologies, tools and practices to help producers reduce on-farm emissions. The greatest focus has been on:

1. emissions of methane from livestock
2. nitrous oxide from nitrogenous fertilisers used in grain production.

The department's climate change mitigation projects are included in the table below.

Other ways for agricultural businesses to mitigate climate change

Access to accurate, granular GHG emissions data is essential for organizations looking to identify where to focus emissions reduction efforts, develop a strategy and track the impact of emissions reduction initiatives.

At the business level it is crucial to identify:

• significant emissions sources
• opportunities for mitigation
• increased carbon sequestration.

Measure and monitor GHG emissions on a farm

A baseline carbon account for a farm will give the total GHG emissions for the farm and the carbon intensity of products such as wool, meat and grain.

This is important so that any decision on how much carbon needs to be captured (sequestration) or emissions reduced (mitigation) is based on actual emissions.

Farm baseline accounts categorise all business or industry emissions into scopes - based on where in the value chain they are generated.

• Scope 1: Emissions generated on the farm.
• Scope 2: Emissions generated in the production of purchased electricity.
• Scope 3: Emissions generated in the production of inputs such as fertilisers, herbicides and fuels, as well as in the post-farm value chain, such as packaging and processing.

Carbon calculators

There are a number of carbon calculators available that assist in assessing GHG emissions.  As new calculators continue to come into the market, the department will endeavour to keep this list up to date.

The department has scientific, economic, carbon accounting and data modelling expertise and can provide agricultural and industry peak bodies with updates on current research and emissions-related training.

Life cycle analysis

Life cycle analysis (LCA) and carbon accounts are used to gather more detailed information about the sources and intensity of emissions along agricultural supply chains. The LCA generates emissions profiles for farm, enterprise or product. These methods are used to assess the potential environmental impacts of products during their entire life cycle. This more detailed emissions information can be used to guide production efficiencies and carbon mitigation strategies along supply chains. Analysis of different agricultural industries have been undertaken to understand where the enterprise emits the most emissions from pre-farm to market in WA:

Data on where emissions are coming from helps direct an organisation’s emissions reduction efforts. In addition, ongoing tracking of GHG emissions provides a quantified feedback loop to track if initiatives are achieving the wanted outcome.

Agricultural emissions and the SERS for WA

During 2022 and 2023, the state government developed a SERS to transition WA’s economy to net zero emissions by 2050. The strategy development was undertaken in consultation with business and industry, as well as research, environment, and community organisations. 

The department undertook the agriculture and land chapter of the SERS. The outcomes included:

• Establishing a baseline of agricultural emissions is needed to monitor changes in industry emissions over time. The emissions baseline will also play an important role in designing mitigation pathways.
• Developing a consultation document with input from producers, business, industry, banking, the department, research institutions and other key stakeholders.
• Surveying and running forums and workshops across the agricultural sector around emissions reductions in various industries.
• Feedback from the survey and workshops and outputs from prediction modelling informed the development of the agricultural component of SERS. 
• The agricultural component of SERS set out a strategic plan to reduce agricultural emissions with key actions to assist farmers, growers, and agribusinesses for lowering emissions while producing high-quality, high-value foods and fibres.