Agriculture’s untapped potential to contribute to the Effort Sharing Regulation

The European Parliament and EU governments are debating the European Commission's proposed Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), which sets out binding annual greenhouse gas emission targets for member states in the transport, buildings, agriculture and waste management sectors. It is widely acknowledged that agriculture can contribute to mitigation by increasing carbon removals on agricultural land (reported under LULUCF). However, this independent study for T&E by the Institute for European Environmental Policy shows that there is also a significant untapped potential for the agriculture sector to contribute through reducing its non-CO2 emissions, which are covered by the ESR.