Why the World Must Value the Carbon Opportunity Cost of Land

Fall 2024 Harry ’51 and Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series

Abstract

Global cropland is expanding at record rates and the world needs 50% or more crops, livestock products and wood in the next 40 years. At the same time climate strategies rely on regaining forests and other native habitats in this period. As a result, each hectare of land – particularly productive land – has a high value, and each increase in the demand for land for human consumption has a high cost. Yet, researchers and public policy often fail to assign climate costs to the ongoing uses of existing agricultural land or to the harvest and use of wood in most countries. As a result, they often support policies that would make greater use of land, including vast increases in bioenergy. This talk will explore the origins of the accounting error, the implications, and how to fix it by building the carbon opportunity cost of land into how we decide which activities reduce or increase emissions.

About the speaker

Tim Searchinger is a Senior Research Scholar at the School of Public and International Affairs of Princeton University. He is also a Senior Fellow and the Technical Director for Agriculture, Forestry & Ecosystems at the World Resources Institute. Although trained as a lawyer, Searchinger's work today combines ecology, agronomy and economics to analyze the challenge of how to feed a growing world population while reducing deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. His publications include multiple papers in Science and Natureaddressing the greenhouse and other environmental implications of agriculture, bioenergy, forestry, and nitrogen pollution. He is also the lead author of several major reports including Creating a Sustainable Food Future, a comprehensive report addressing these issues published in 2019 by WRI, the World Bank and the United Nations, and a report setting forth a pathway for how Danish agriculture could achieve carbon neutrality. His research ranges from global analyses to projects in countries around the world including Brazil, China, Colombia, Rwanda, Vietnam, and Zambia, and focuses both on issues of science and of public policy. For the first part of his career, Searchinger worked as an environmental attorney, primarily at the Environmental Defense Fund, where he directed its work on agricultural policy, wetlands and restoration of several major aquatic ecosystems. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School.

About the seminar series

The Harry ’51 & Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series showcases innovative approaches to development with experts from around the globe. Each year, the series attracts online registrants from over 45 countries and more than 350 organizations. 

Seminars are held Wednesdays from 12:20-1:10 p.m. eastern time during the semester in 175 Warren Hall. Students, faculty and the general public are welcome to attend in-person or via Zoom.

The series is co-sponsored by the Department of Global Development, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and the School of Integrative Plant Science as part of courses GDEV 4961, AEM 4961, NTRES 4961, GDEV 6960, AEM 6960, and NTRES 6960.