EX-Ante Carbon-balance Tool (EX-ACT)

EX-Ante Carbon-balance Tool (EX-ACT)

Year of publication 2017

Pages 134 p.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Document

Series title EASYPol: Resources for policy making

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) EX-Ante Carbon-balance Tool (EX-ACT) is a tool developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). It is aimed at providing ex-ante estimates of the mitigation impact of agriculture, forestry and fishery development projects, estimating net Carbon (C) balance from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and C sequestration. EX-ACT is a land-based accounting system, measuring C stocks, stock changes per unit of land, and CH4 and N2O emissions expressed in t CO2-e per hectare an d year. The main output of the tool is an estimation of the C-balance that is associated with adoption of alternative land management options, as compared to a ‘business as usual’ scenario. EX-ACT has been developed using primarily the IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (IPCC 2006), complemented by other existing methodologies and reviews of default coefficients where available. Default values for mitigation options in the agriculture sector are mostly from the 4th Asse ssment Report of IPCC chapter 8, Smith et al.2007. Default values for wetlands (inland and coastal) are from the 2013 supplement to the IPCC 2006 (IPCC 2014). Thus, EX-ACT allows for the C–balance appraisal of new investment programmes by ensuring an appropriate method available for donors and planning officers, project designers and decision makers within agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors in developing countries. The tool can also help to identify the mitigation impacts of various inv estment project options, and thus provide an additional criterion for consideration in project selection. These technical guidelines for using EX-ACT aim at providing the user with the details of procedures and numbers used to perform calculation of C balance.

Language English

Related items

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Document

The Carbon Balance of the World Bank-financed Land Husbandry, Water Harvesting and Hillside Irrigation (LWH) Project of the Government of Rwanda: Application of the EX-Ante Carbon-balance tool (EX-ACT)
Applied Work. EASYPol Module 121
2012

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Agriculture can play an important role in climate change mitigation while contributing to increased food security and reductions in rural poverty. The Ex-Ante Carbon-balance Tool (EX-ACT) can estimate the mitigation potential of rural development projects generated from changes in farming systems and land use. The study presents and discusses the EX-ACT analysis performed on the World Bankfinanced Land Husbandry, Water Harvesting and Hillside Irrigation Project of the Government of Rwanda. Estim ates of the impact of project activities on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration demonstrate that the implementation of the LWH project will provide additional environmental benefits by helping to mitigate climate change. Thus it reflects possible synergies between mitigation and rural development goals through a watershed approach.
Book (stand-alone)

Mainstreaming Carbon Balance Appraisal in Agriculture. EX-ACT: A Tool to Measure the Carbon-Balance
issue Papers. EASYPol Module 099
2011

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Agricultural systems can contribute significantly to an overall mitigation that will help to reduce the extent of adaptation required and catastrophic impacts on systems and sectors, on which lives and livelihoods depend. Many agricultural mitigation options, particularly those that involve soil C sequestration also generate co-benefits for adaptation, food security and rural development. This paper analyses the current context in which carbon balance and greenhouse gass (GHG) indicators fa ce growing interest in agriculture development. It highlights the multi-objective significance of carbon balance and multi benefits of improved carbon soil in term of mitigation, adaptation, cropping systems and local community resilience building. It proposes that Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) be used as the Agri-Environmental indicator in agriculture policy monitoring for developing countries and carbon balance as performance indicator in policy analysis. Tools that are currently available to calculate GHG emissions in agriculture sector at farm level or at project level are listed. EX-ACT1 Lastely, this paper develops a way in which carbon balance can be used in project and policy analysis, highlighting synergies with existing donors’ approaches. It also analyses the different ways to upscale the use of carbon balance methods within agriculture sector in developing countries. is presented as the specific tool to allow for a quick appraisal of the potential mitigation impacts o f agricultural investment projects, available to donors and planning officers, project designers and decision makers within agriculture and forestry sectors in developing countries.
Document

The Carbon Footprint of the Agricultural Growth Project (AGP) in Ethiopia: An Application of the EX-Ante Carbon-balance Tool (EX-ACT)
Applied Work. EASYPol Module 118
2012

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This module presents a Case Study of a Carbon-Balance Appraisal for an investment programme. It is useful for people who wish to improve their skills on how to estimate the climate change mitigation potential of agricultural programmes/projects and how to integrate it into the economic analysis of projects. This case is part of a set of documents which intend to provide support project developers in the process of learning and applying the EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool (EX-ACT). More specifically, the EX-ACT application was tested on a FAO Programme in Madagascar and the results are demonstrated in this Case Study, which consists of a brief description of the project, guidelines for structuring project data and an appendix with project data.