Genetically modified crops support climate change mitigation

Emma Kovak; Dan Blaustein-Rejto; Matin Qaim

doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2022.01.004

Genetically modified crops support climate change mitigation

Trends Plant Sci. 2022 Jul;27(7):627-629. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2022.01.004. Epub 2022 Feb 8.

Authors

Emma Kovak¹, Dan Blaustein-Rejto², Matin Qaim³

Affiliations

¹ The Breakthrough Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA. Electronic address: ekovak@thebreakthrough.org.
² The Breakthrough Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA.
³ Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany; Institute for Food and Resource Economics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: mqaim@uni-bonn.de.

PMID: 35148945
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2022.01.004

Abstract

Genetically modified (GM) crops can help reduce agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition to possible decreases in production emissions, GM yield gains also mitigate land-use change and related emissions. Wider adoption of already-existing GM crops in Europe could result in a reduction equivalent to 7.5% of the total agricultural GHG emissions of Europe.

MeSH terms

Agriculture
Climate Change*
Crops, Agricultural* / genetics
Greenhouse Effect
Plants, Genetically Modified / genetics