Farming for Our Future examines the policies and legal reforms necessary to accelerate the adoption of practices that can make agriculture in the United States climate-neutral or better. These proven practices will also make our food system more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Agriculture's contribution to climate change is substantial--much more so than official figures suggest--and we will not be able to achieve our overall mitigation goals unless agricultural emissions sharply decline. Fortunately, farms and ranches can be a major part of the climate solution, while protecting biodiversity, strengthening rural communities, and improving the lives of the workers who cultivate our crops and rear our animals. The importance of agricultural climate solutions can not be underestimated; it is a critical element both in ensuring our food security and limiting climate change. This book provides essential solutions to address the greatest crises of our time.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector is responsible for about 25 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, but can also be an important part of the solution to climate change, through adaptation and mitigation efforts. As part of its Strategy on Climate Change, FAO is developing the low carbon agricultural commodities approach , based on emission reductions along entire agricultural value chains, with tea and its business model being the first commodity to be evaluated. This report, developed in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), assesses the potential of lowcarbon and carbon neutral approaches to tea production.As the largest producer and consumer of tea in the world, China is collaborating with FAO to develop an overall framework and minimum standards for sustainable tea production. This report, based on the case studies carried in three tea fields in Southeast China, provides evidence regarding the results, impacts and achievements of the pilot conducted by the Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences (CAAS). The report develops a methodology for accounting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and an estimation of the mitigation and carbon sequestration potential based on the experiences in the pilot tea gardens in China. The report also sets up the key elements of the enabling environment in order to promote the replication of the model to other countries and the base work for a potential low carbon and/or carbon neutral tea certification.

Carbon footprint is one of the important environmental impacts, which has received greater attention from the public, government and media. It is one of the important topics of even any government’s agenda as well and every nation is trying its best to reduce its carbon footprint to the maximum possible extent. Every company would like to reduce the carbon footprint of its products and consumers are looking for the products which emit lower carbon emissions in their entire life cycle. Assessment of Carbon footprint for different products, processes and services and also carbon labelling of products have become familiar topics in the recent past in various industrial sectors. Every industry has its unique assessment and modelling techniques, allocation procedures, mitigation methods and labelling strategies for its carbon emissions. With this background, this book has been framed with dedicated chapters on carbon footprint assessment on various industrial sectors. In each chapter, details pertaining to the assessment methodologies of carbon footprint followed in a particular industry, challenges in calculating the carbon footprint, case studies of various products in that particular industry, mitigation measures to be followed to trim down the carbon footprint, recommendations for further research are discussed in detail. This first volume includes the carbon footprint assessment methodology of agricultural sector, telecommunication sector, food sector, ceramic industry, packaging industry, building and construction sector and solid waste sector.

This open access book introduces the major environmental green development issues from six major themes carbon neutrality, nature-based solution, watershed management and climate adaptation, BRI green development, sustainable food supply chain, ecosystem-based integrated ocean management focusing on the progress of China’s environment and development policies from 2021 accomplishments. It is based on the research outputs of CCICED in the year of 2021, which marks China’s start point of implementation of its 14th Five-Year Plan when world economy also strived to recover from the pandemic.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a comprehensive system that requires thorough consideration of local climate, natural environment, market demand, economic and cultural environment. FAO introduced CSA at the Hague Conference on Agricultural, Food Security and Climate Change in 2010 and has been strongly supporting it since then. The development of CSA in China contributes to reaching its carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality in China by 2060. This publication introduces China's CSA development and provides policy proposals. It contains four sections: the background and development status of China's CSA; practices and achievements of China's CSA, including analysing case studies such as the China Climate-Smart Staple Crop Production project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF); opportunities and challenges facing China's CSA; and national policy proposals and investments that include local schemes and smallholders for China's CSA.It is critical for China to strengthen its cooperation with international organizations to explore innovative, efficient, resilient, and sustainable climate-adaption technologies for the transformation of agrifood systems.This publication is part of the Country Investment Highlights series under the FAO Investment Centre's Knowledge for Investment (K4I) programme.

This practical guide to cost studies of buildings has been updated and revised throughout for the 6th edition. New developments in RICS New Rules of Measurement (NRM) are incorporated throughout the book, in addition to new material on e-business, the internet, social media, building information modelling, sustainability, building resilience and carbon estimating. This trusted and easy to use guide to the cost management role: Focuses on the importance of costs of constructing projects during the different phases of the construction process Features learning outcomes and self-assessment questions for each chapter Addresses the requirements of international readers From introductory data on the construction industry and the history of construction economics, to recommended methods for cost analysis and post-contract cost control, Cost Studies of Buildings is an ideal companion for anyone learning about cost management.

• New York Times bestseller • The 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world “At this point in time, the Drawdown book is exactly what is needed; a credible, conservative solution-by-solution narrative that we can do it. Reading it is an effective inoculation against the widespread perception of doom that humanity cannot and will not solve the climate crisis. Reported by-effects include increased determination and a sense of grounded hope.” —Per Espen Stoknes, Author, What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming “There’s been no real way for ordinary people to get an understanding of what they can do and what impact it can have. There remains no single, comprehensive, reliable compendium of carbon-reduction solutions across sectors. At least until now. . . . The public is hungry for this kind of practical wisdom.” —David Roberts, Vox “This is the ideal environmental sciences textbook—only it is too interesting and inspiring to be called a textbook.” —Peter Kareiva, Director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here—some are well known; some you may have never heard of. They range from clean energy to educating girls in lower-income countries to land use practices that pull carbon out of the air. The solutions exist, are economically viable, and communities throughout the world are currently enacting them with skill and determination. If deployed collectively on a global scale over the next thirty years, they represent a credible path forward, not just to slow the earth’s warming but to reach drawdown, that point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere peak and begin to decline. These measures promise cascading benefits to human health, security, prosperity, and well-being—giving us every reason to see this planetary crisis as an opportunity to create a just and livable world.

This annual report monitors and evaluates agricultural policies in 54 countries, including the 38 OECD countries, the five non-OECD EU Member States, and 11 emerging economies. It finds that the continued rise in agricultural support has been slower than sector growth in recent years, but has been driven to record highs mainly by temporary factors.

This book discusses the concepts, methods and case studies pertaining to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based Carbon Footprint Assessment. It covers chapters on Carbon Footprint Assessment with LCA methodology & case studies on carbon footprint calculation following the LCA approach on power plants in India, Impacts of Vehicle Incidents On CO2 Emissions and school buildings in India.