Integrated assessment of farm-level mitigation measures for gaseous emissions

Abstract

Context

Some gaseous emissions continue to pose a serious threat to human health and the environment locally, regionally and globally. This has resulted in several studies advocating for the implementation of mitigation measures to reduce the emissions of harmful gases.

Objective

While the vast majority of studies focus on a single type of gas, much less attention has been paid to the complementary or conflicting effects of mitigation measures across multiple harmful gaseous emissions dimensions.

Methods

To address this research gap, this study uses Irish farm-level data to assess the holistic costs and benefits of a suite of mitigation measures that have the potential to abate greenhouse gases, ammonia or both. A cost-benefit analysis framework is employed to assess the impact of the mitigation measures across five different farm system types.

Results and conclusions

Results indicate that the relative effectiveness of the mitigation measure varies depending on the gaseous emission dimension being examined.

Significance

Analyses that fail to account for such synergistic and antagonistic relationship impacts may lead to flawed policy decisions.