Development and application of Earth Observation to support reductions in methane emission from agriculture (EOforCH4)

Agriculture is an extremely important and growing sector in Australia. In 2021, agriculture contributed 12% of goods, services and exports and 1.9% of Gross Domestic Product in Australia. Agriculture has also experienced a 7% increase in value since 2000. However, agriculture is also a major source of GHG emissions, contributing 79.6 million tonnes (Mt) of CO2-equivalent in 2022, which represents a substantial 16.4% of national GHG emissions. Livestock accounts for approximately 70% of all GHG emissions within the agricultural sector, contributing 56% of Australia's total methane (CH4) emissions. Australia has set national targets to reduce GHG emissions to ~43% of 2005 levels by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2050. Achieving these targets will need substantial reductions in CH4 emissions from livestock, a task that will require widespread adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. Methane emission reductions can be realised by a combination of on-farm technological interventions (e.g. improving feed digestibility, feed supplements, and obtaining improved meat value) and behavioural change to more plant-based diets and less economic reliance on livestock exports. The effectiveness of these climate-smart practices and the associated emission reductions can be assessed via 'bottom-up' emission inventorying which relies on robust baseline (current year) emission estimates. However, achieving accurate current emission estimates from the agricultural sector is a particular challenge across Australia given the distribution of often extensive agricultural activity across large, remote regions. New developments in Earth Observation (EO) offer exciting opportunities to improve current CH4 emission estimates and assess and verify the efficacy of technological interventions and behavioural change targeted at emission reduction. This project seeks to utilise the wealth of EO data available for Australia by developing a 'GHG emissions framework' that can integrate observational data (both satellite EO and ground-based) and state-of-the-art modelling methods (emission inventorying and atmospheric chemical transport) to improve current GHG emissions assessments and the effectiveness of emission reduction interventions. This will provide invaluable information to support policy development and implementation to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.