Emissions Trading through Agricultural Carbon Sequestration: Adopting Conservation Practices, Leakage and Non-CO2 Gases

The ETACS project was funded by the USDA National Research Initiative and brings together expertise in environmental, economic and anthropologic research to identify the factors that influence adoption of conservation practices and provide estimates of carbon sequestration due to these practices and the associated leakage.

Project goals:

Provide revised estimates for the carbon sequestration attributed to adoption of conservation practices, by taking into account emissions of non-CO2 GHGs and leakage. This information is needed to determine the amount of carbon that is available for emissions trading, as well as consider the possibility of compliance to minimize leakage and other deleterious management decisions.

Assess the environmental limits for adoption of conservation practices. This information can be used to develop policies encouraging the adoption of management practices appropriate for each region. Policy makers also can use this information to identify new technological advances that are needed to overcome existing environmental constraints.

Illustrate the influence of socio-economic and attitudinal factors on management decisions that can help policy makers determine how best to facilitate more widespread adoption of conservation practices and to overcome social and economic barriers to their adoption. Such policy directions may include financial incentives and new venues or methods for information dissemination.