Coffee Break Seminar: How to Feed the Global Population with Less Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Nitrogen Fertilisers?

Dr Yunhu Gao (Faculty of Engineering, University of Cambridge) How to Feed the Global Population with Less Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Nitrogen Fertilisers?  

Food security relies on nitrogen fertilisers, whose production and use account for approximately 5% of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Meeting current climate change targets requires the identification and prioritisation of meaningful interventions across the supply chain of fertilisers. To do this, we have mapped the global flow of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers and manure, and their corresponding GHG emissions across all lifecycle stages. We have then explored the maximum mitigation potential of various interventions to reduce fertiliser emissions by 2050. We found that reducing the demand for fertilisers by increasing nitrogen use efficiency of croplands is the single most effective strategy. Yet, this should be combined with decarbonisation of fertiliser production. Using currently available technologies, GHG emissions of fertilisers could be reduced up to approximately one fifth of current levels by 2050. Yunhu Gao is a Research Associate in the Engineering Department, focusing on reducing GHG emissions from the petrochemical sector.

Coffee Break Seminars are a relaxed online learning and discussion platform for our food security community. Talks take place every Friday during term time at 2 pm, UK time.

Please find more on this series here.