DEQUIEDT Benjamin

The objective of this thesis is to estimate the cost of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation measures related to crop fertilization, which represents 38% and 44% of agricultural GHG emissions in Europe and France, respectively. The study of the cost and mitigation potential is carried out on two key measures in the mitigation of emissions, namely the establishment of nitrogen fixing plants (i.e. legumes) and the reduction of fertilization per hectare. The mitigation potential of legumes is studied by simulating their increase in French crop rotations and then on the scale of crop rotations lasting up to six years in five European regions. The results show that significant emission reductions are possible, while increasing farmers' profits. The role of risk aversion is also investigated regarding the reduction of crop fertilization per hectare. We analytically show the conditions leading to an over-application of fertilizer per hectare allowing risk averse farmers to minimize the risk of yield loss. Numerical simulations performed specifically on risk averse farmers demonstrate that emission mitigation insurance can potentially trigger significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

In this thesis, we assess the mitigation cost of greenhouse gas (GHG) from fertilization which represents 38% and 44% of agricultural GHG emissions in Europe and in France. This assessment is conducted for two key measures in climate mitigation which are the implementation of legumes crops and the reduction of fertilization per hectare. The abatement potential of legume crops is computed by simulating their increase in French croplands and also by a switch of crop rotations on several years (up to 6 years) in five European regions. Results show that significant mitigation amounts can be obtained by increasing farms revenues. The role of risk aversion is studied through the reduction of fertilisation per hectare. We analytically shows the conditions leading to nitrogen over-applications on crops which allows farmers to minimize their risk of loss on crop yields. The simulations lead on risk averse farmers show that an insurance covering yield variability could be foreseen as an interesting tool to mitigate emissions.

This paper considers the cost of greenhouse gas mitigation potential of legume crops in French arable systems. We construct marginal abatement cost curves to represent this mitigation or abatement potential for each department of France and provide a spatial representation of its extent. Despite some uncertainty, the measure appears to offer significant low cost mitigation potential. We estimate that the measure could abate half of the emissions reduction sought by a national plan for the reduction of chemical fertilizers emissions by 2020. This would be achieved at a loss of farmlands profit of 1,2%. Considering the geographical heterogeneity of cost, we suggest that a policy implementing carbon pricing in agriculture would be more efficient than a uniform regulatory requirement for including the crop in arable systems.

This paper analyses the potential of biomass-based electricity in the EU-27 countries, and interactions with climate policy and the EU ETS. We estimate the potential biomass demand from the existing power plants, and we match our estimates with the potential biomass supply in Europe. Furthermore, we compute the CO2 abatement associated with the co-firing opportunities in European coal plants. We find that the biomass demand from the power sector may be very high compared with potential supply. We also identify that co-firing can produce high volumes of CO2 abatements, which may be two times larger than that of the coal-to-gas fuel switching. We also compute biomass and CO2 breakeven prices for co-firing. Results indicate that biomass-based electricity remains profitable with high biomass prices, when the carbon price is high: a Euros 16–24 (25–35, respectively) biomass price (per MWhprim) for a Euros 20 (50, respectively) carbon price. Hence, the carbon price appears as an important driver, which can make profitable a high share of the potential biomass demand from the power sector, even with high biomass prices. This aims to gain insights on how biomass market may be impacted by the EU ETS and others climate policies.