Study on Carbon Footprint of Rice Industry in China

Agriculture sector is the second biggest source of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission, and rice is one of the most important grains in China. Reducing rice carbon emission is playing an important role in low-carbon agriculture. Based on life-cycle assessment, this paper assesses rice carbon footprint (CF) of 17 main rice-producing provincial areas in China respectively, and analyzed change trend of rice CF amount and structure from 1997 to 2008. The results show that: the CF produced in extraction and transportation of raw materials, and arable farming is accounted to 90%-97% of the total rice CF. The proportion of CF that emerged in the production and transportation of agrochemical was decreasing gradually during the time from 1997 to 2008. And the CF of each ton of rice in developed coastal regions such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong, was several times. higher than other regions. It suggests to improve the process of energy extraction and to develop energy-saving technologies in the rice cultivation, meantime, promoting clean energy, biomass energy and renewable energy in rural areas continuously, and adjusting the production structure of rice production are the ways to reduce rice carbon emission.