Economic monitoring of fossil energy use in EU agriculture
2009
Kränzlein, T., Forschungsanstalt Agroscope Reckenholz-Taenikon ART, Zuerich (Switzerland)
Primary agricultural production is in many respects associated with the consumption of non-renewable energy resources. Consequently, greenhouse-gas emissions arising from this consump-tion are a side-effect of agricultural production. In order to achieve an internalisation of these climate-relevant effects, an instrument capable of estimating the energy consumption of agricul-tural production in a methodical, coherent, complete and regionally precise manner is essential. Moreover, there is the question of efficient energy use, as well as the allocation of the emission re-duction in a manner that is both spatially and process-specifically efficient. The aim of this dissertation is to obtain a model-based, regionally differentiated estimate of the energy consumption and efficiency of primary agricultural production for the entire European Union (EU), and to calculate the resultant greenhouse-gas emissions. In addition, energy efficiency is to be compared with the cost-effectiveness of a region or a production process. In a further step, existing policy instruments are examined in terms of their energy consumption and relationship to overall welfare.[...] Corresponding shifts may be observed for the individual produc-tion activities. Thus, for example, there has been a sharp cutback in the production of energy-intensively produced grain maize. On the other hand, owing to consumer demand, animal produc-tion _ comparatively inefficient in energy terms _ is only being reduced to a relatively small extent, leading to a sharp rise in prices. Moreover, this measure is resulting in a considerable rise in imports, particularly of grain and meat. From the perspective of overall welfare, consumers are bearing the brunt of the reduction target in the form of higher prices. In the sectoral comparison, the calculated CO2 reduction costs of around 100-110 _/t CO2 tally with those of other authors. For this reason, reduction measures in European agriculture are a relatively expensive instrument in comparison with non-agricultural measures, even from the point of view of this study.
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