Farming and land could be the UK’s largest source of emissions in little more than a decade, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).
The ECIU said new analysis of government data shows that progress on emissions reductions for farming and land use is “significantly off target”.
“Progress lags behind other sectors to such an extent that it is possible the sector could be the biggest emitter by the middle of the 2030s,” the ECIU said.
“It is likely that this year agriculture and land use leapfrogged electricity generation to be the fourth biggest emitter, after domestic transport, buildings and industry.”
Although the rate of progress towards woodland creation in England improved last year, up to 4,550ha in the year to March 2024, from 3,130ha the previous year, this is still well short of the target to plant 7,500ha of new woodland by 2025, the ECIU said.
As well as this, the percentage of farmers engaged in low carbon farming practices such as energy efficiency and improving the efficiency of manure and slurry management has gone backwards, down to 48% from a high of 66% in 2020, and from 53% in 2023.
The ECIU said this is after a lack of focus on the target and confusion over the support available. The target for 2025 is 70%, and for 2037 is 85% of farmers.
Emissions
Land, food and farming analyst at ECIU, Tom Lancaster, said:
“There is a tragic irony in farmers’ harvests, revenues and the UK’s food self-sufficiency falling due to a winter which climate change made wet in the extreme, and the sector’s own emissions remaining high for at least the last decade.
“The UK’s farms and land could well be releasing more greenhouse gas emissions than its power stations. Look ahead another decade and the UK’s land, including agriculture, could be our number one source of emissions.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. Farming is the only sector that can absorb as well as emit greenhouse gases.”
Lancaster said this is in part why the new green farming support system is so important, because it will help and incentivise farmers to bring down emissions and sequester carbon, while at the same time improving soil health, planting trees and hedgerows that make crops and livestock more resilient to flooding and extreme heat.
“As the new government considers the upcoming Climate Change Committee progress report, it will need to move quickly to bring forward policies that are capable of making up for lost time.
“What is clear is that the next five years are make or break for the contribution farming and land use can make towards net zero by 2050, given the time it takes for soils and peatlands to recover and trees to grow.”
