This paper, Gilbert P, Thornley P and Riche A B (2011).  The influence of organic and inorganic fertiliser application rates on UK biomass crop sustainability Biomass and Bioenergy, in press, highlights firstly, the GHG reduction potential of producing biomass (willow or miscanthus) as a substitute for natural gas and secondly, the need to consider environmental impacts other than just GHGs (in this case eutrophication and acidification).   The study finds that there are substantial GHG benefits to be had from growing biofuels as a substitute for gas.

This paper is by some of the same authors who wrote a paper for Friend of the Earth (see mailing of 23/10/10) which modelled the health impact of a lower meat diet. You can read the FoE report here. The FOE report essentially argues that a lower meat diet would deliver major health improvements largely because it assumes that a reduction in meat intakes will be compensated for by an increase in fruit and vegetables – which of course may or may not be the case.

Uncertainty around climate change is communicated in a paper entitled, Morton T A, Rabinovich A, Marshall D. Bretschneider (2011) The future that may (or may not) come: How framing changes responses to uncertainty in climate change communications. Global Environmental Change 21 pp103–109. Communicating possible effects of climate change inevitably involves uncertainty. Because people are generally averse to uncertainty, this

Revamped agri-environment schemes could play a major role in ensuring we get maximum ecological and economic returns from UK land, according to research findings drawn from across the Relu programme.   Briefing paper no 12, "Informing the Reform and Implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy", identifies key points from RELU research that could help to steer the reform of the CAP, currently underway.  

Carbon Brief, a new online project has recently been launched.  Its focus is not just on providing information about climate change (or rather signposting you to that information) but about how climate change science and stories are communicated.

Allied Bakeries have carbon footprinted three of their Kingsmill range of bread loaves.  In this article they say that the process has helped them reduce emissions - that they also feel positive that while the buying public don’t yet understand carbon labels, the lables act as a pointer that a company is actually doing something, and that in itself is good for competitive advantage.  

The world’s second-largest palm oil company has agreed to stop clearing Indonesian forests and peatlands.  Golden Agri-Resources Limited (GAR), part of the $2.3 billion Sinar Mas group, is the largest palm oil producer in Indonesia, and the first Indonesian company to make such a commitment.  

Defra has just published the findings of research, undertaken by the Agriculture and Environment Research Unit (AERU) at the University of Hertfordshire, in collaboration with the Policy Studies Institute (PSI) and the Food Ethics Council (FEC), titled Effective approaches to environmental labelling of food products - FO0419.