A marginal abatement cost analysis of practice options related to the NLMP program

Summary

This research compares expected GHG mitigation and financial returns for practice options examined as part of the NLMP that appear to be financially viable or have the potential to be financially viable. A total of 13 mitigation strategies were analysed for abatement potential and financial outcomes.
Financial outcomes were estimated using representative case studies from eight different farming systems.

This project developed a marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) for each of these representative case study farms. The results of case study analysis were then scaled up to estimate the national potential for each of the mitigation strategies examined.

The results suggest that, when all farming systems are considered at national scale, the practice options with the greatest potential to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions inventory are algae, NOP, plant bioactives, vaccination and biochar. However it should be noted that the outputs from these analyses depend greatly on the assumptions made. Some of the assumptions are based on sound scientific evidence, but many do not yet have sufficient experimental results. Further, the cost of implementation would need to be reduced for algae, NOP and plant bioactives to become financially viable.