To limit future warming requires rapid reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and achieving net zero by 2050, as required by UK legislation. Climate mitigation is led in government by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). But Defra is responsible for efforts to reduce GHG emissions from four sectors: agriculture, waste and wastewater, land-use, and fluorinated gases (F-gases). Defra also has responsibility to promote forestry, which acts as a carbon sink. Together, the four Defra sectors represent 15% of the total net UK GHGs, with agriculture being the biggest contributor (about 10% of UK emissions).
Defra has research interests in reduction of emissions, the removal of GHG from the atmosphere, and in understanding the impacts of mitigation activities on other environmental outcomes.
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This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:
"GGR topic-specific" project proposal. To achieve the UK targets for cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a steady reduction of 3% should be achieved and maintained every year by the whole UK economy. This i...
Funded by: NERC
Lead research organisation: CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
The project aims to harmonise various LCA approaches to assess greenhouse gas removal techniques and improve consequential LCA approaches, which directly addresses the question of the impacts of greenhouse gas removals and negative emission technologies on climate and the environment.
Greenhouse Gas Removal in the Land Sector - Addressing the Gaps (GGRiLS - Gaps) is a Topic-specific proposal under the GGR programme. The Paris agreement commits countries to limit climate warming to "well below 2 d...
Funded by: NERC
Lead research organisation: University of Bristol
The project quantifies the emissions reduction gap in the land sector at a country level and identifies options for greenhouse gas removal, which directly addresses the question of the trade-offs of negative emissions techniques and other interventions.
This Fellowship will exploit the next generation of climate models to make the UK's first assessment of the potential for land-use change policy (e.g., reduced deforestation and increased afforestation) to help society m...
Funded by: NERC
Lead research organisation: University of Leeds
The project focuses on the potential for land-use change policy to help meet climate targets, which is not directly related to the impacts of greenhouse gas removals and negative emission technologies on climate and the environment.