§ Mr. LazarowiczTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to measure carbon emissions from the(a) farming and (b) food industries. [87266]
§ Mr. MeacherAs a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, the UK is required annually to compile an inventory of emissions by sources and removals by sinks of the greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol.
The main greenhouse gases emitted from farming are methane from enteric fermentation in livestock and agricultural waste disposal, and nitrous oxide from fertiliser use. There are also emissions of carbon dioxide from agricultural energy use and liming of soils. Emissions are calculated from agricultural data including animal numbers and fertiliser usage produced by DEFRA, energy statistics from DTI, plus factors to relate these data to actual emissions. The data are recorded in the UK greenhouse gas inventory and show that overall emissions from agriculture fell by about 610W 11.5 per cent. between 1990 and 2000. Agriculture also contributes to emissions from land use change, which fell by about 20 per cent. over the same period.
Greenhouse gas emissions for the food industry are not identified separately in the inventory, although they are included with other industrial emissions. Separate studies undertaken by my Department suggest that end user carbon dioxide emissions from energy use in the food industry fell by about 25 per cent. over the period 1990 to 2000. This includes the food industry's share of emissions at power stations due to electricity generation, and it is the fall in power station emissions due to fuel switching that is main reason for the decrease in emissions from this sector.