Speaker
Description
Germany aims to become climate-neutral by 2045. The German government set this target in the amended Federal Climate Change Act of 2021. On this path, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be reduced by 65% by 2030 compared to 1990. This requires special efforts in the agricultural sector, which is currently responsible for around 8% of total GHG emissions in Germany.
The agricultural sector faces the challenge of being both part of the problem and part of the solution. Current reports show that German agriculture has the potential to substantially reduce its emissions, although food production will always be linked with emissions. At the same time, in association with the LULUCF sector, agriculture can be part of the solution if vegetation and soils are effectively and sustainably utilized as carbon sinks.
It is crucial that the implementation of new measures to mitigate climate change remain viable and profitable to ensure that German agriculture can stay competitive on the global market under changing climatic conditions. Policy-makers and researchers have a responsibility to provide the best possible support for agricultural practice and identify measures that can be implemented fast in order to achieve the German government's climate change mitigation targets and reverse current negative trends.
"RessortForschtKlima" is a network of over 20 projects that are carried out by the departmental research institutes assigned to the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. They are intended to support the achievement of the 2030 climate protection targets in the areas of food, agriculture and forests - inter alia through new climate change mitigation measures as well as solutions for climate reporting, impact assessment and socio-economic issues. For this purpose, the departmental research institutions received funding from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture as part of the German Climate Protection Programme 2022.
As part of RessortForschtKlima initiative, the Julius Kühn Institute, which is the Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants is researching and developing innovative solutions for the effective reduction of GHG emissions in plant production and development of carbon sequestration potentials in 18 projects. The research activities cover the entire plant production chain in the fields of increasing carbon sequestration potentials, improving resource use efficiency, including the reduction of nitrogen surpluses, sustainable reduction of GHG emissions, including the development and implementation of alternative utilisation concepts and methods, and improving biodiversity as a contribution to climate change mitigation. In addition, the joint projects are supported by the Networking and Coordination Project (VKP), which acts as a link between research and policymakers.
The overall objective of the RessortForschtKlima research projects is to provide a significant contribution to the reduction of GHG emissions in agriculture in Germany, whereby the measures developed must be implemented near-term and easily in agricultural practice and their effects must be quantifiable. The results should help to achieve overarching climate change mitigation measures and targets more effectively.
The VKP aims to strengthen communication between researchers across institutes and fields in RessortForschtKlima in order to identify synergies in research and development and to discuss possible contributions to effective climate change mitigation. By creating overview articles on agricultural climate change mitigation measures in Germany and bundling and processing the research results of all RessortForschtKlima projects in a targeted manner, the VKP aims to ensure a comprehensive summary for political decision-makers, climate reporting, farmers and the general public. Based on the findings, recommendations for action can be derived and published in the form of policy briefs or synthesis reports in order to create an evidence-based foundation for future steps in the field of climate change mitigation in agriculture.
This contribution provides a structured overview on major research objectives, relevant research approaches and an impression of the potential conclusions that can be drawn from the 18 research projects. It further highlights important challenges and respective trajectories for effective climate change mitigation along the plant production chain.
| Keywords | Crop production; Climate change mitigation; Soil organic carbon; Nitrogen use efficiency |
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