Implications of Limiting CO 2 Concentrations for Land Use and Energy

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1168475
• Publication Date: 2009-05-28T21:54:57Z
• Authors: Marshall Wise; Katherine Calvin; Allison Thomson; Leon Clarke; Benjamin Bond-Lam...; Ronald Sands; Steven J. Smith; Anthony Janetos; James Edmonds
• Keywords: Crops, Agricultural; 2. Zero hunger; Conservation of Natural Resources; Energy-Generating Resources; Fossil Fuels; Atmosphere; Commerce; Agriculture; Carbon Dioxide; Models, Theoretical; 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 13. Climate action; 11. Sustainability; Industry; Biomass; Ecosystem; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

The Power of Green

Carbon dioxide is produced both by fossil fuel burning and by deforestation and other land-use changes. Limiting both sources of CO 2 is necessary if we are to curb global warming.

Wise et al.

(p. 1183 ) use an integrated assessment model to explore the consequences of limiting atmospheric CO 2 concentrations at levels between 450 and 550 parts per million through a combination of fossil-fuel emissions reductions and land-use modification. Land-use modification strategies reduce the cost of limiting atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, but can make crop prices rise and transform human diets, for example, when people consume less beef and other carbon-intensive protein sources. The rate at which crop productivity is improved has a strong influence on emissions from land-use change. Thus, the technology used for growing crops is potentially as important for limiting atmospheric CO 2 as are approaches like CO 2 capture and storage.