Halfway There?

The report argues that the AFOLU sector, which accounts for approximately 24% of global warming pollution, offers significant potential to close the emissions gap. By analyzing eight major emitters—the United States, Indonesia, China, India, Brazil, the European Union, Mexico, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—the authors find that median mitigation potentials for these countries could cover 76% of the 2020 emissions gap and 44% of the 2030 gap. The report emphasizes a combination of supply-side production efficiencies and demand-side consumption changes, such as reducing beef consumption and food waste, to achieve these reductions.

• The AFOLU sector represents about 24 percent of global warming pollution, and its mitigation potential could significantly reduce the emissions gap, with median estimates for eight major emitters covering 76 percent of the 2020 gap and 44 percent of the 2030 gap.
• The United States has the highest land-use mitigation potential among the studied countries, with median estimates of 1.9 Gt CO2/year in 2020 and 3.1 Gt CO2/year in 2030, driven by both demand-side strategies like reducing beef consumption and supply-side reductions in N2O emissions.
• Indonesia is identified as the world's largest forest-sector emitter due to deforestation and peat swamp clearing, with a median mitigation potential of 1.7 Gt CO2/year in 2020 and 0.8 Gt CO2/year in 2030.
• In China and India, mitigation potential is primarily on the production side, specifically targeting methane from rice and N2O from overfertilization, as both countries have net sequestration in their forest sectors.
• Brazil's greatest mitigation potential lies in the cattle sector, which is the country's largest source of direct global warming emissions and the primary driver of deforestation.
• Demand-side approaches, including shifting dietary patterns away from high-emissions foods and reducing food waste, may constitute the majority of the total AFOLU mitigation potential.

APA

Boucher, D., & Ferretti-Gallon, K. (2015). Halfway There? Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/01/ucs-halfway-there-2015-full-report.pdf

Chicago

Boucher, Doug, and Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon. Halfway There? Union of Concerned Scientists, 2015. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/01/ucs-halfway-there-2015-full-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Boucher |first1=Doug |last2=Ferretti-Gallon |first2=Kalifi |title=Halfway There? |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=January 2015 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/01/ucs-halfway-there-2015-full-report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{boucher2015halfway, author = {Boucher, Doug and Ferretti-Gallon, Kalifi}, title = {{Halfway There?}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2015}, month = jan, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/01/ucs-halfway-there-2015-full-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }