Exploring the Road Towards Agricultural Carbon Neutrality: From Potential to Reality

This paper aims to give an analytical assessment of country’s level experience in moving towards agricultural decarbonization – from the idea of potential decarbonization measures to the assessment of their potential, the inclusion of the measure in political goals and practical implementation success. This paper is based on 10-year cycle that highlight main steps in building decarbonization awareness and an approach that can be used for monitoring, quantifying and evaluating the contribution of agriculture to climate change mitigation. This approach is based on the Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC), which serves as a convenient and visual tool for evaluating the effectiveness of various agriculture greenhouse gas emission reduction measures and for climate policy planning. This study reveals the experience to date and the main directions in developing the MACC approach, which serves as a basis for analysing the potential of one specific European Union Member state, i.e., Latvia, agriculture for moving towards decarbonization. The results of the study are of practical use for the development of agricultural, environmental and climate policy or legal framework, policy analysis and impact assessment. As well findings of this study are useful for educating farmers and the public about measures to reduce GHG and ammonia emissions.