Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets

2020/11/06 by Michael Clark, Nina G. G. Domingo, Kimberly K Colgan +5 · 10 citations
Environmental Science · Energy · #Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact #Global Energy and Sustainability Research #Environmental Impact and Sustainability #Climate change #Environmental science #Business #Biology #Ecology

paper · doi:10.1126/science.aba7357

openalex publication_date 2020/11/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

The Paris Agreement's goal of limiting the increase in global temperature to 1.5° or 2°C above preindustrial levels requires rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Although reducing emissions from fossil fuels is essential for meeting this goal, other sources of emissions may also preclude its attainment. We show that even if fossil fuel emissions were immediately halted, current trends in global food systems would prevent the achievement of the 1.5°C target and, by the end of the century, threaten the achievement of the 2°C target. Meeting the 1.5°C target requires rapid and ambitious changes to food systems as well as to all nonfood sectors. The 2°C target could be achieved with less-ambitious changes to food systems, but only if fossil fuel and other nonfood emissions are eliminated soon.

Citations

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• Analysis and valuation of the health and climate change cobenefits of dietary change
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Cited by

• Integrating degrowth and efficiency perspectives enables an emission-neutral food system by 2100
• Frequent failure of nutrients to increase plant biomass supports the need for precision fertilization in agriculture
• Meat Consumption and Sustainability
• Challenges for the balanced attribution of livestock’s environmental impacts: the art of conveying simple messages around complex realities
• Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products
• Eating within planetary limits - Life cycle assessment of food waste prevention and dietary shifts in Danish universities
• Global food-miles account for nearly 20% of total food-systems emissions
• European Forest Governance: Status Quo and Optimising Options with Regard to the Paris Climate Target
• Food industry [wikipedia]
• Sustainable food system [wikipedia]

Related

• Climate Change and Food Systems
• The limits to global‐warming mitigation by terrestrial carbon removal
• Forecasts of the trend in global-mean temperature to 2100 arising from the scenarios of first-difference CO2 and peak fossil fuel
• Anthropogenic aerosol drives uncertainty in future climate mitigation efforts
• Challenges and Prospects for Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Pathways Consistent With the Paris Agreement