Irrigation significantly impacts the environment, yet its global energy consumption and carbon emissions remain unclear. This study assesses these impacts and potential reductions through efficient, low-carbon irrigation practices. Irrigation contributes 216 million metric tons of CO2 emissions and consumes 1896 petajoules of energy annually, representing 15% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and energy use. Groundwater pumping accounts for 89% of energy consumption despite only irrigating 40% of agricultural land. Future irrigation expansion could increase energy use by 28%. Efficient, low-carbon methods could halve energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions by 90%, although country-specific feasibility limits this to a 55% reduction globally. This research provides crucial insights for assessing irrigation's viability in enhancing agricultural adaptive capacity.

Jingxiu Qin, Weili Duan, Shan Zou, Yaning Chen, Wenjing Huang, Lorenzo Rosa