Proceedings of the 5th World Conference on Climate Change and Global Warming
Year: 2025
DOI:
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Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agricultural Sources in Poland
Pawel Wisniewski
ABSTRACT:
According to a special IPCC report (2019), the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector accounts for 23% of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Richards et al. (2015) indicate that agriculture is responsible for an average of 30% of national GHG emissions. According to the cited authors, in 42 countries, agriculture is the source of more than half of GHG emissions, and in 91 countries the contribution of agricultural activities to total GHG emissions is 20% or more. In EU countries, agriculture is responsible for 10.3%. According to data from the National Centre for Emissions Management (KOBiZE) presented in the 2024 inventory report, the share of agriculture in total GHG emissions in Poland is 8.8%. In order to estimate carbon footprint from agriculture in the Polish communes (local administrative units, formerly LAU level 2), the three main sources of GHG emissions from this sector in Poland were taken into account: enteric fermentation of livestock, animal faeces and management of agricultural soils. The burning of plant residues was also included, although its share of GHG emissions is significantly lower. The results of the calculations indicate that more than half of the total agricultural emissions in Polish communes are associated with livestock farming, of which 41.2% comes from enteric fermentation and 18.7% from animal excreta. Its important source is also the use of agricultural soils (40.1%), in particular direct emissions from the cultivation of organic soils and from the use of mineral fertilizers, as well as indirect emissions from the leaching of nitrogen compounds from the soil.
keywords: agriculture, GHG emissions, local-level GHG inventories, carbon dioxide equivalent, Polish communes