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Grassland stores carbon
Grassland stores carbon
It is not widely known, but grassland store as much greenhouse gases in the soil as forest does. When grassland is converted to cropland, the amount of carbon stored in the ground decreases by 30tC02 per hectare in the long run.
Curbing the conversion of grassland to cropland can thus be a way to store greenhouse gases and fight climate change:
- Grassland stores carbon in the ground
- Grassland receives less nitrogen fertilizers, and thus emits less nitrous oxides, that are powerful greenhouse gases.
- Grassland might be associated with less intensive cattle growing, and thus a smaller number of cows per hectare.
All in all, it has been estimated that preventing the conversion of grassland into croplands can decrease emissions by 10.55tCO2/ha/year during the first five years.
Grassland conservation programs, that pay farmers for conserving their grassland, can thus be an effective way to fight climate change. Whether they are cost effective depend on how much grassland they conserve, whether it comes at the expense of cropland, and how less cattle is grown as a result.
Land use in France
Grassland Conservation
Grassland Conservation
The EU introduced a Grassland conservation program in 1993, in order to curb the continuous decrease in grassland area that has been occuring since the 1970s.
The EU grassland conservation program is a five year contract that pays farmers a fixed amount per hectare (46 and then 76 euros after 2000) on exchange for not converting grassland to cropland.
The French Grassland Conservation Program that we study spends annually around 350 million euros. It is one of the largest Grassland Conservation Programs in the world.
A major policy reform in 2000
A major policy reform in 2000
In 2000, the introduction of the CTE changed the eligibiltiy requirements for entering the grassland conservation program. Before 2000, under the PMSEE 1 and 2 programs, farmers had to have more than 75% of their overall farm area in grassland in order to be eligible for the program. After 2000, this requirement was relaxed.
A large inflow of participants used as a natural experiment
A large inflow of participants used as a natural experiment
The change in eligibility requirements triggered the entry of a large amount of new participants in the program. This increase was concentrated in some parts of France only, enabling us to compare the communes where the number of participants increased to the communes where the number of participants remained constant.
Communes where the number of farmers receiving a grassland subsidy increased (in blue) and stayed the same (in red)
A sizeable inflow of money
A sizeable inflow of money
The amount of subsidy increased by 1000 euros per year in each communes where the number of beneficiaries increased.
A small increase in grassland area
A small increase in grassland area
The share of grassland area in the commune only increased by 0,8 percentage points.
A small decrease in cropland
A small decrease in cropland
The slight increase in grassland area comes at the expense of crops.
No change in forest cover
No change in forest cover
Forest cover does not decrease in aereas where the program is in place.
Grassland conservation in France is not cost-effective
Grassland conservation in France is not cost-effective
We compute the benefits in terms of avoided emissions (valued at 24 euros/tC02) as a fraction of the costs of the program. We find that the benefits are a fraction (20%) of the costs. As a comparison, forest conservation programs in developing countries have been estimated to have benefits that are twice their costs.
The price of carbon needed to make the benefits of grassland conservation in France equal to the costs is 127 euros/tCO2.
Our estimates suggest that the French Grassland conservation program is not cost-effective. Adding other benefits brought about by grassland does not change that conclusion. More precise estimates from a study inspired by ours confirm these figures.
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