An Analysis of Farm-based Carbon Footprint Calculators: Insights for Farmers

Through farming activities, a significant amount of greenhouse gases is emitted, which unfavourably contributes to climate change. In order to reduce the adverse impacts of farming activities on the environment, farmers need to get accurate insights on emissions from their activities so that they can take appropriate corrective actions to reduce their emissions. Insights on carbon emissions can be obtained by using carbon footprint calculators, which proliferated during the past few years. However, even though these tools are freely available online, limited work has been undertaken to analyse and compare their applications. Taking cognizance of this gap, this paper analyses key aspects of existing farming-based carbon calculators, notably their scope, calculation method employed, and consistency of results provided. Following application and analysis of three calculators, results showed varied categorisation of calculation parameters, granularity of inputs, lack of transparency and some inconsistent results. The limitations identified in this study provide avenues for further enhancement of these tools by the research community and regulatory bodies.