Study Reveals Global Energy Use and Carbon Emissions from Irrigated Agriculture
2024-04-18
Irrigation, a promising climate change adaption strategy, relies on fossil fuel-based energy for pumping, resulting in the emission of greenhouse gases. With the increasing demand for irrigation water and the depletion of fossil fuels, irrigated agriculture faces severe challenges for sustainable development.
A recent study, published in Nature Communications, assessed the global energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with irrigation, while also measuring the potential energy and carbon reductions achievable through the adoption of efficient and low-carbon irrigation practices.
To reveal water-energy-carbon nexus in irrigated agriculture, a collaborative research group led by CHEN Yaning from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, developed a global irrigation energy consumption and carbon emission assessment model using a bottom-up, physics-based method, and then quantified global energy consumption and CO2 emissions from irrigation.
The researchers found irrigation contributes 216 million metric tons of CO2 emissions and consumes 1896 petajoules of energy annually, representing 15% of greenhouse gas emissions and energy utilized, or 30% of energy input and carbon emissions per unit area in agricultural operations. Groundwater pumping accounts for 89% of the total energy consumption in irrigation.
"With future irrigation expansion, additional energy consumption for irrigation will add pressure on energy supply in African and European countries,” said Prof. DUAN Weili, the corresponding author of this study.
To achieve the sustainable development of irrigated agriculture, researchers evaluated the efficacy of various mitigation interventions, including the adoption of water-efficient irrigation systems, electric pumping systems, and renewable energy sources.
The researchers found a combination of drip irrigation and low-carbon irrigation methods has the potential to cut energy consumption and energy-related CO2 emissions in half.
This study sheds light on the previously uncharted territory of global energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with irrigation, and charts a path forward aiming for less water, energy, and CO2 emissions in irrigated agriculture.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47383-5
Fig.1. Mitigation potentials of energy use and CO2 emissions under different scenarios (Left) and Feasibility of solutions to reduce CO2 emissions of irrigation on a country-level scale (Right).
Contact
LONG Huaping
Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography
E-mail: longhp@ms.xjb.ac.cn