What is decarbonization in agriculture?

 

“Decarbonization.” You may have heard this word come up in conversations about climate change, global warming and environmental sustainability.  

But what does decarbonization mean, exactly? Why is it important to our planet and our food system? And what are some practical ways we can work toward it?

In this article, we look at the importance of decarbonization. We explore what it means for your food and how we’re growing and moving your food in a less carbon-intensive way.

 

What is decarbonization?

Agriculture and transportation account for more than one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions. Cargill is addressing those challenges through several decarbonization solutions.

Looking for a simple decarbonization definition? It means reducing the amount of carbon we emit into the atmosphere while we keep our world running. 

Carbon dioxide (CO2) plays a crucial role in the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that lead to climate change. CO2 accounts for the majority of greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere and increase global warming. In 2022, almost 80% of greenhouse gases in the U.S. came from CO2, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

How does CO2 get into the atmosphere? Through human activities that burn fossil fuels — like driving a car, using electricity and producing goods.

 

How can decarbonization help us fight climate change?

Decarbonization and climate change are closely linked. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions like carbon (decarbonization) can help slow global warming (climate change).

Climate change is one of our planet’s most urgent challenges. Industrial decarbonization helps address it by moving economies toward cleaner energy sources and away from fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. 

This energy transition is only one piece of the environmental puzzle. But it is critical to limiting global warming and creating a more sustainable future for our planet and its people.

Proponents are working urgently to keep the Paris Climate Agreement attainable. That means holding the increase in global temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels. Many sectors — including agriculture and food production — need to adopt decarbonization strategies to achieve this.

 

Why is decarbonization important for our food system?

As our climate continues to change, our food system needs to change with it.

The impact of climate change is causing more frequent and severe weather events, shifting growing seasons and hurting soil health.

On top of that, our population is growing. We must feed an additional 500 million people by 2030. Our food system has to adapt to these factors to keep producing enough food for everyone.

The challenge: Agriculture (how we grow food) and transportation (how we move food) account for more than one-third of all global GHG emissions.

That’s why we need to decarbonize the entire food supply chain — to meet the growing demand for food and to reduce our GHG emissions.

There are many approaches to agricultural decarbonization. Here are three ways we're pursuing large-scale change.

 

Regenerative agriculture: Growing your food and cultivating healthier soil

Cargill partners with farmers and ranchers to adopt regenerative agriculture practices that lead to better outcomes for our planet and people.

How can we grow food while also reducing our emissions and caring for other natural resources? Answers lie in the soil beneath our feet.

Healthy soil is good for our planet — and for farmers. It can pull carbon from the atmosphere to combat climate change, improve water quality and availability, and increase resilience against environmental shocks like drought and flooding.

That’s where regenerative agriculture comes in. While there isn’t one commonly held definition, we define regenerative agriculture as farming and ranching systems that build resilience and deliver positive environmental outcomes for people and our planet. It includes practices like:

• Conservation tillage: Reducing the disturbance to the soil can help sequester carbon and improve the soil structure
• Cover crops: Using cover crops in between cash crops can help improve soil health, reduce erosion and sequester more carbon.
• Agroforestry: Planting more trees into agricultural landscapes can help store carbon, increase biodiversity and improve water management.
• Rotational grazing: Frequently moving livestock between different pastures gives grasslands time to recover and spreads manure, which adds nutrients to the soil.

We believe change starts where the food system begins — at the farm. That is why we are partnering with farmers and ranchers to adopt regenerative agriculture practices. We help them get the resources they need to produce the world’s food while building a more sustainable food system. 

Here are a few ways we’re working to make regenerative agriculture commonplace:

• Expanding our Cargill RegenConnect™ regenerative agriculture program beyond North America to farmers in Europe.
• Launching ReSolu in Brazil to focus on building resilient farming systems and improving soil health
• Partnering with Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands to research common crops in Europe and support transitions to regenerative agriculture
• Creating Cargill SustainConnect, which compensates canola farmers for adopting sustainable practices that improve soil health and decarbonize agriculture
• Partnering with PUR on an agroforestry project in Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana. This project funds the cost of seedlings and provides cocoa growers with agronomic expertise to help restore and preserve forests. 

Learn more about regenerative agriculture at Cargill.

 

Sustainable ocean shipping: Exploring innovative ways to move the world’s goods 

Cargill is one of the maritime shipping industry’s leading proponents of sustainable ocean transportation.

Did you know the majority of the world’s food is transported by sea? In fact, as you’re reading this, thousands of ships are moving more than 80% of global trade across our waterways. 

Maritime shipping is the most fuel-efficient means of global transportation. But it still accounts for 3% of GHG emissions across the globe.

Today, one of the shipping industry’s biggest challenges is tackling climate change. The International Maritime Organization — a United Nations agency that regulates maritime transport — has a goal to reach zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Building a climate-aligned shipping industry by 2050 will require a sustained effort across many stakeholders. At Cargill, where we ship food and other goods by sea, we are one of the maritime industry’s leading proponents of sustainable ocean transportation.

We are taking bold action to lead this transformation. In 2023, we tested new technologies on the water, expanded biofuels to cut shipping emissions and pioneered with customers and partners. And we’ll continue experimenting to find new ways to decarbonize rapidly throughout the 2030s. 

Here are a few ways we’re already making sustainable ocean transportation a reality:

Learn more about renewable fuels at Cargill.

 

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