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Agricultural greenhouse gas study

Last updated on February 24, 2022

Agricultural GHG study

The Opportunity Assessment of Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Reductions and Carbon Sinks project was conducted in 2021 to provide foundational knowledge for understanding potential pathways for reducing net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in B.C.’s agriculture sector.

This study has three parts:

  1. Assessment of GHG emission sources and carbon sinks,
  2. Multi-criteria assessment of beneficial management practices to reduce emissions, and
  3. Assessment of potential GHG models for B.C. agriculture.

Project Summary Report

This report provides a short summary of the results from the three technical reports, including quantifying potential net GHG reductions resulting from the adoption of a preliminary list of 13 beneficial management practices (BMPs) assessed. This report highlights possible next steps to support development of agricultural pathways for GHG reduction and carbon sequestration.

Technical reports

These reports provide detailed, research-based information.

Report 1 builds on existing national and provincial GHG inventory data to analyse sources and sinks of agricultural GHG emissions and trends over time. This analysis helps identify mitigation strategies to support and track progress on the agriculture sector’s contribution to provincial sectoral GHG emission reduction targets.

Report 2 examines the climate benefits and feasibility of adopting BMPs using a multi-criteria framework (MCF). In addition to GHG reduction potential, the MCF also considers environmental co-benefits, costs, and adoptability. This report considers a preliminary list of BMPs, including:

Report 3 evaluates forty-nine GHG models that could be adapted for modelling B.C. agricultural GHG emissions and informing policy/program development. This report recommends the top five models based on suitability and effectiveness.