An Emissions-Intensity Approach for Crediting Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Agriculture

In this chapter we discuss the use of an output or intensity-based crediting methodology for greenhouse gas (GHG) offsets in agriculture that directly accounts for productivity and all sources of emissions and sequestration from the production system. ¹ Such an accounting scheme could provide greater monetary incentives to producers than methodologies that do not credit the potential indirect emissions reductions achieved if productivity improvements in one system lower agricultural expansion rates and management intensity elsewhere (which we refer to throughout this chapter as positive leakage). As recent studies suggest, productivity enhancements per unit area in agriculture and forestry through technological improvements or increased on-farm production intensity can provide a viable source of GHG mitigation by compensating for extensive expansion that brings new land into production (Burney et al. 2010; Hertel et al. 2009; Jackson and Baker 2010).