Journal
NATURE
Volume 609, Issue 7926, Pages 299-+Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05055-8
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41877506]
- Chinese Thousand Youth Talents Program
- Shanghai International Science and Technology Partnership Project [21230780200]
- Fudan-Sinar Mas Think Tank Fund [JGSXK2014]
- ANR CLAND Convergence Institute [16-CONV-0003]
- Catalan Government [SGR 2017-1005, AGAUR-2020PANDE00117]
- Spanish Government [PID2019-110521GB-I00]
- Fundacion Ramon Areces grant ELEMENTAL-CLIMATE
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [P31796-N29]
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [P31796] Funding Source: Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The potential of large-scale bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) to limit global warming within 2 degrees Celsius may be hindered by the negative effects of climate change on crop yields, which threatens food security. Early mitigation measures, preferably before 2040, are urgently needed to avoid irreversible climate change and serious food crises.
The potential of mitigation actions to limit global warming within 2 degrees C (ref.(1)) might rely on the abundant supply of biomass for large-scale bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) that is assumed to scale up markedly in the future(2-5). However, the detrimental effects of climate change on crop yields may reduce the capacity of BECCS and threaten food security(6-8), thus creating an unrecognized positive feedback loop on global warming. We quantified the strength of this feedback by implementing the responses of crop yields to increases in growing season temperature, atmospheric CO2 concentration and intensity of nitrogen (N) fertilization in a compact Earth system model(9). Exceeding a threshold of climate change would cause transformative changes in social-ecological systems by jeopardizing climate stability and threatening food security. If global mitigation alongside large-scale BECCS is delayed to 2060 when global warming exceeds about 2.5 degrees C, then the yields of agricultural residues for BECCS would be too low to meet the Paris goal of 2 degrees C by 2200. This risk of failure is amplified by the sustained demand for food, leading to an expansion of cropland or intensification of N fertilization to compensate for climate-induced yield losses. Our findings there by reinforce the urgency of early mitigation, preferably by 2040, to avoid irreversible climate change and serious food crises unless other negative-emission technologies become available in the near future to compensate for the reduced capacity of BECCS.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available