Payback time for soil carbon and sugar-cane ethanol

Author(s)

Mello, Francisco F. C. ^{[1, 2]} ; Cerri, Carlos E. P. ^[3] ; Davies, Christian A. ^[4] ; Holbrook, N. Michele ^{[5, 2]} ; Paustian, Keith ^{[6, 7]} ; Maia, Stoecio M. F. ^[8] ; Galdos, Marcelo V. ^[9] ; Bernoux, Martial ^[10] ; Cerri, Carlos C. ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Ctr Nucl Energy Agr, BR-13416000 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[2] Harvard Univ, John F Kennedy Sch Govt, Sustainabil Sci Program, Cambridge, MA 02138 - USA

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Luiz de Queiroz Coll Agr, BR-13418260 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[4] Shell Technol Ctr Houston, Houston, TX 77082 - USA

^[5] Harvard Univ, Dept Organism & Evolutionary Biol, Cambridge, MA 02138 - USA

^[6] Colorado State Univ, Dept Soil & Crop Sci, Ft Collins, CO 80523 - USA

^[7] Colorado State Univ, Nat Resource Ecol Lab, Ft Collins, CO 80523 - USA

^[8] Inst Fed Alagoas, BR-57035350 Maceio, AL - Brazil

^[9] Lab Nacl Ciencia & Tecnol Bioetanol CTBE, BR-13830970 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[10] IRD, UMR Eco&Sols, F-34060 Montpellier - France

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE; v. 4, n. 7, p. 605-609, JUL 2014.
• Web of Science Citations: 47

Abstract

Thee effects of land-use change (LUC) on soil carbon (C) balance has to be taken into account in calculating the CO2 savings attributed to bioenergy crops(1-3). There have been few direct fieldmeasurements that quantify thee effects of LUC on soil C for the most common land-use transitions into sugar cane in Brazil, the world's largest producer(1-3). We quantified the C balance for LUC as a net loss (carbon debt) or net gain (carbon credit) in soil C for sugar-cane expansion in Brazil. We sampled 135 field sites to 1 m depth, representing three major LUC scenarios. Our results demonstrate that soil C stocks decrease following LUC from native vegetation and pastures, and increase where cropland is converted to sugar cane. The payback time for the soil C debt was eight years for native vegetation and two to three years for pastures. With an increasing need for biofuels and the potential for Brazil to help meet global demand(4), our results will be invaluable for guiding expansion policies of sugar-cane production towards greater sustainability. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/07105-7 - Soil carbon stocks on land use - change process to sugar cane production in South-Center Brazil
• Grantee: Carlos Clemente Cerri
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants