Agricultural carbon mitigation options in Europe: improved estimates and the global perspective

Over recent years a number of attempts have been made to assess the carbon mitigation potential of European agricultural land. Here we review the progress made by comparing pre- and post-Kyoto estimates of C mitigation potential, and review recent advances, such as the inclusion of trace gases in C mitigation calculations. We then briefly discuss ways in which our regional estimates of agricultural carbon mitigation potential might be improved. Finally, we set the findings for Europe in the context of the global terrestrial carbon cycle, and the historical global loss of carbon from soils due to agriculture.