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Alberta Takes the Lead in Greenhouse Gas Mitigation for Beef Cattle | |
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From the July 6, 2009 Issue of Agri-News | |
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| | Alberta is the first province in Canada to legislate greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. Since July 1, 2007, all companies that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of GHG a year must reduce their emission intensity by 12 per cent compared to a baseline (Specified Gas Emitters Regulation). Companies can reduce their intensities by making internal improvements to their operations, by buying an Alberta-based offset to apply against their emission reduction total, or by contributing to a fund that will invest in technology to reduce GHG emissions in the province.
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Offset project developers must register their verified emissions reductions online with the Alberta Emissions Offset Registry. This provides transparency and accountability to the market, as well as a 'meeting place' for both buyers and sellers (www.CarbonOffsetSolutions.ca). Project developers (sellers) must follow one of 24 government-approved quantification protocols listed at this website. Primary producers and GHG aggregators in Alberta have already sold close to $11 million in agricultural carbon offsets to regulated facilities using the Reduced Tillage Management Quantification Protocol and submitted these for compliance.
To create the high quality of offsets that are needed to meet regulatory requirements, science-based protocols were developed to identify GHG emission reductions that result from the use of different management practices. Protocols are developed according to an international 'gold standard' using the ISO 14064-2 requirements. These requirements also specify that practice changes must represent improvements beyond business as usual and must be verifiable. Protocols have been developed by the climate change/greenhouse gas technical team (CC/GHG) of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, in cooperation with Climate Change Central and Alberta Environment. Dr. John Basarab, beef research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Lacombe, has led the development of three GHG-mitigating quantification protocols in the area of beef cattle production. These protocols address management improvements that:
- include edible oils in cattle feeding regimes
- reduce the number of days that cattle feed in the feedlot
- reduce age at slaughter (or reduced lifespan) in cattle
Basarab is presently developing a fourth protocol that selects for low residual feed intake in beef cattle or, as coined by the popular press, develops the fuel efficient cow. These practice changes have the potential to reduce GHG emissions from cattle by 0.1 to 1.0 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per animal, with an estimated value ranging from $1 to $11 per head in the emerging Alberta carbon market.
"Alberta is the first jurisdiction in North America to have science-based protocols that mitigate GHG emissions from beef cattle registered in a regulatory context," says Basarab. "These protocols have been developed with several long-term strategic goals in mind. The first and foremost goal is to identify management to improve the efficiency of feed and energy utilization without adversely affecting production and profitability. The second goal is to reduce the environmental impacts of forage-beef production; third is to take advantage of the carbon credit market; and, fourth to differentiate 'green' beef products on the basis of an improved carbon footprint."
Basarab also noted that agriculture contributes only eight per cent of the total GHG emissions in Canada. Of this, 50 per cent is attributed to emissions from soils primarily due to nitrous oxide (N2O) from fertilizer application, 32 per cent from ruminants due to methane (CH4) emissions from enteric fermentation and 17 per cent from N2O emissions due to manure management. In Australia, agriculture accounts for 16 per cent of that country's total GHG emissions, with livestock accounting for two-thirds of agriculture emissions. Agriculture represents 49.4 per cent of all New Zealand's emissions and is dominated by CH4 (32.8%) and N2O (16.6%). This level of GHG emissions from agriculture has a liability in excess of $3 billion annually for the New Zealand government.
Contact:
Dr. John Basarab
403-782-8032
Ag-Info Centre
310-FARM (3276) |
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For more information about the content of this document, contact John Basarab.
This document is maintained by Rita Splawinski.
This information published to the web on June 30, 2009.
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