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Project title

REEFIR

Primary Funding Agency

DAFM

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

n/a

Lead Organisation

Teagasc

Lead Applicant

n/a

Project Abstract

Both New Zealand and Ireland have legally-binding targets of reducing GHG emissions to net zero by 2050 and reductions from the agricultural sectors are crucial for both countries. Accurate, and verified emission factors are urgently required to support inventories, incorporate mitigation and underpin farm calculators/pricing (for New Zealand) and GHG-efficient farming practices (both countries). REfining Emission Factors for Inventory Reporting (REEFIR) aligns with the identified needs for both countries to have higher-tier, disaggregated, N2O and NH3 emission factors and methods that also incorporate the effect of mitigation on carbon cycling and CO2 emissions. This project builds on the successful DATAMAN (funded under the Global Research Alliance (GRA)) which developed an openly-available database of GHG emissions from manure management. We will collate emissions data from mineral N sources and refresh DATAMAN with more recent data. A gap-analysis of DATAMAN will be used to design new experimental work quantifying emissions from N sources in Ireland and NZ. The refreshed database will be analysed using both statistical and process-based modelling approaches. The statistical approaches will build on those developed in DATAMAN. The process-based modelling will be done using an ensemble of APSIM, DayCent and DNDC �models that are widely accepted for the purposes here. Combined, these two approaches will better elucidate the key drivers of emissions and emission factors and incorporate consideration of carbon fluxes and farm production in the GHG emissions reduction. As well as they will form the basis of the higher-tier emission factors that are crucial to the GHG reductions desired by both countries. There will be a strong knowledge-transfer effort in the project. The methods will include interactive workshops with policy and farming stakeholders, peer review through science journal publications, and submission of the higher-tier emission factors to the IPCC Emission Factor Database (EFDB) Editorial Board.

Grant Approved

�1,495,952.35

Research Hub

n/a

Research Theme

Carbon Stocks, GHG Emissions, Sinks and Management Options

Start Date

01/03/2023

Initial Projected Completion Date

28/02/2027