The utility of novel environmental impact metrics in UK ruminant mitigation

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the lecture notes on novel environmental impact metrics in UK ruminant mitigation.

GWP100

Global warming potential over a 100-year horizon; a standard metric for comparing warming impacts of greenhouse gases relative to CO2.

GWP*

A warming-based metric (GWP-star) that accounts for the rate of change of short-lived gases like methane over time, addressing limitations of traditional GWP100.

GWP*c

An application of GWP* that annualizes cumulative methane emissions from 2050–2100 after mitigation, highlighting end-of-century warming implications.

CO2e

Carbon dioxide equivalent; a common unit for expressing the combined warming impact of different greenhouse gases.

LUC

Land-use change; changes in land cover and associated carbon stocks due to human activities.

dLUC

Direct land-use change; emissions from land-cover conversion allocated over a lookback period (often 20 years) in LCA.

COC

Carbon Opportunity Cost; the climate costs of using land for one purpose versus alternatives, reflecting foregone sequestration.

Land occupation

The difference between current vegetation carbon stock and the stock that would exist under native vegetation; used in LCA to proxy land-use impacts.

PEMs

Production Emissions in the agricultural context (on-farm and upstream inputs like feeds and fertilizers) that land managers can influence.

FaIR model

A climate model that translates emissions profiles into temperature change to assess warming impacts.

BAU

Business as usual; a scenario with no new mitigation interventions.

INT

Intensification; mitigation scenario featuring improved feed conversion efficiency and yields, increasing production efficiency.

AET

All Existing Technologies; scenario where existing mitigation technologies are scaled up.

BRT

Breakthrough technologies; highly ambitious future mitigation methods implemented by 2050.

Land use costs

Costs associated with land use in climate accounting, including COC and dLUC contributions.

GHG metrics

A set of measures (e.g., GWP100, GWP*, COC, dLUC) used to quantify and compare greenhouse gas and land-use impacts.

Flow metrics

Metrics that consider the rate of change of emissions over time (e.g., GWP* uses a 20-year lookback).

Discount rate

Rate used to discount future climate impacts; commonly 4% for COC calculations and sometimes 3% in social cost contexts.

Amortization period

The time period (about 30 years here) over which land-use carbon losses (COC) are amortized in the analysis.

De-amortized COC

A method to present COC as a one-off initial emission with subsequent non-accumulating values for compatibility with warming analyses.

Operational control

An accounting approach focusing on emissions and influences within the land manager’s agency at the farm boundary.

Leakage

Unintended shifts in emissions or land-use pressures (e.g., dLUC leakage) when reporting metrics at sub-global scales.

Feed conversion efficiency (FCE)

Efficiency improvements in converting feed to animal product, reducing production emissions (PEMs) per unit output.

Pasture COC

The carbon opportunity cost associated with pastureland use (e.g., 16 tCO2e/ha; 0.73 tCO2e per tonne of grass in the study’s pasture calc).