Irrigation is a crucial climate change adaptation strategy, enhancing crop resilience to drought and heat stress. However, it also generates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy-intensive pumping. This study quantifies county-level emissions from irrigation energy use in the US, revealing that irrigation pump energy use produced 12.6 million metric tonnes CO₂e in 2018, primarily from groundwater pumping. Spatial emission heterogeneity is driven by factors like groundwater reliance, irrigated area, water demand, fuel choice, and grid emissions intensity. Projected reductions in grid emissions intensity are expected to decrease pumping emissions by 46% by 2050, with further reductions achievable through pump electrification. This research underscores the need to integrate GHG emission considerations into climate-smart irrigation policies.

Avery W. Driscoll, Richard T. Conant, Landon T. Marston, Eunkyoung Choi, Nathaniel D. Mueller