Biogas central to food and farming transition to control ‘superpollutants’, COP29 told

 

The United Nations (UN) launched its Global Nitrous Oxide Assessment report at COP 29 on Wednesday, the first in a salvo of reports calling for a revolution in food and farming systems focused on control of super-pollutants like methane and nitrogen.  

The Global Nitrous Oxide Assessment will be followed by an in-depth analysis of the wider nitrogen challenge (of which nitrous oxide is a part) in the forthcoming International Nitrogen Assessment and a roadmap for action in the agri-food sector will be the focus of a forthcoming Climate & Clean Air Coalition assessment. 

The Global NOx Assessment from the UN Environment Programme and Food and Agriculture Organisation, issues a stark warning, there is no plausible way to keep 1.5° C alive without urgent action to address this ‘superpollutant’.  

Nitrous oxide is a long-lived greenhouse gas approximately 270 times more powerful than carbon dioxide per tonne of emission at warming the Earth. Its anthropogenic (human caused) emissions are responsible for approximately 10 per cent (around 0.1° Celsius) of net global warming to date since the industrial revolution. 

Agriculture is currently the source of 75 per cent of those emissions, from the use of synthetic fertilisers and untreated manure on agricultural soils and manure management. 

Biogas offers a robust solution

The report identifies abatement measures available today that could reduce these emissions by more than 40 per cent below current levels. It’s chief recommendation, “the abatement of its anthropogenic emissions must be grounded in a sustainable nitrogen management approach which would also reduce the loss of other nitrogen compounds to the environment.” 

Anaerobic digestion (AD) technology for producing biogas and biofertiliser is recognised as a robust solution for reducing emissions from agriculture waste management through the recovery and recycling of minerals and nutrients from farmyard manures and residues.  

The report envisions large improvements in capture of manure nitrogen and subsequent increased recycling on to croplands, thus re-integrating crop and animal production systems and improving the circularity of the overall food production system.  

Within this it says, “anaerobic digestion could produce energy for on- or off-farm use as well as produce a nutrient- rich, odourless digestate well suited for soil enhancement.” 

Greater circularity of nutrient dynamics would decrease demand for inputs of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers and reduce the spreading of raw manures. 

The report concludes, “If the international community is serious about meeting not just its international climate and ozone commitments but many of its sustainable development objectives – from clean air and water to improved health and food security – then ambitiously abating nitrous oxide is essential.” 

Placing AD and biogas at the heart of food and farming systems can deliver all that.  

Further reading:

The World Biogas Association’s #MakingBiogasHappen programme sets out a model biogas regulatory framework with all the necessary policies, regulations and standards which can be adapted by any country to its local circumstances to rapidly develop a biogas industry. 

WBA members, the UK-based Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) recently wrote a report on the environmental benefits of nutrient management through AD and biogas production, which can be seen below.