Developing greenhouse gas marginal abatement cost curves for agricultural emissions from crops and soils in the UK

Emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture are likely to come under increasing scrutiny as governments around the world develop proposals for large cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Yet while there is a range of technically feasible measures for reducing agricultural emissions, it is not immediately apparent which options deliver the most economically efficient reductions in greenhouse gases. This paper develops a marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) for crop and soil measures applicable in UK agriculture. A range of specific abatement measures are screened for their cost-effectiveness and mitigation potential in the field. An efficient subset is identified with reference to a cost per tonne threshold of ⩽£100/tCO2e. Results indicate that the abatement potential by 2022 is likely to be between 1.628 and 10.164 MtCO2e y−1 depending on the policies implemented, with a central estimate of 5.196 MtCO2e y−1. This represents 11.5% of the 2005 UK agricultural GHG emissions.