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Carbon Footprint Report

Carbon Footprinting Project:

The final report on a project studying the carbon footprinting of the farms within the Cambrian Mountains Lamb Group, entitled Measuring Holistic Carbon Footprints for Lamb and Beef Farms in the Cambrian Mountains, was launched at the Start Festival held at the Botanic Gardens of Wales in September 2010 and attracted widespread media interest.

The project was undertaken at the request of farmers in the CMI, who wished to better understand the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that emanate from their farm businesses. The project aimed to provide the farmers with:

  • a comprehensive GHG footprint for each participating farm.
  • a sensitivity analysis that explores how altered management practices may affect the overall carbon footprint of the farm.
  • identification of key areas in the footprint of each farm that offer potential for emissions reduction at a whole-farm level and per kilogramme product

To briefly summarise the main findings of the reports, of the 20 farms surveyed, they absorbed 58% of their local emissions footprint on average, with three of the farms in the Cambrians found to be Carbon sinks, sequestrating more green house gases than they produced. In most cases nitrous oxide (N2O) provided the greatest proportion of the GHGs emitted from the farms, the overall levels of N2O emissions varying with the amount of ‘organic’ soils that were on the farm. Some farms on mineral soils have low emissions of N2O, while others have up to 90 % of their total N2O emissions arising from organic soils. Emissions of methane are dominated by enteric fermentation from livestock and vary according to the type and numbers of stock on the farm. The emissions relating to direct inputs (e.g. fuel, electricity, fertilisers) to the farms were always low in comparison.

A key issue within the report concerns the use of IPCC recommended PAS2050 figures for calculating nitrous oxide emissions from organic soils. In calculating footprints for the various farms in the Cambrians, the team at Bangor University used both the IPCC recommended figures for the UK * and more locally sourced figures from a study done into peat soils within the Cambrians – which were considerably lower than the IPCC accepted figures. As a result of this study, there is now a growing acceptance for the use of local data in carbon foot printing models and there is a strong possibility that the Carbon Trust will now accept the background soil emission levels resulting from this report to be the norm for Welsh upland peat soils.

* NB: Prior to this report, the Carbon Trust specified that greenhouse gas emission figures for managed peat soils in Wales should be the same as those used throughout the UK. The calculations previous approved by the Carbon Trust for the UK are for intensively managed peat soils on the fens of East Anglia where regular cultivation results in erosion and carbon being lost into the atmosphere. Applying the same emission figures for upland Wales seemed to be unfair in the Welsh context as the Welsh uplands are extensively farmed and in the majority of cases are not subject to any cultivation.