2026: Identifying Pathways to Reduce Absolute Methane Emissions and Emission Intensity From Smallholder Dairies in Maharashtra (EDF)
Significant investments have been made to reduce methane emissions from India’s dairy sector by incentivizing adoption of productivity-enhancing practices. However, efficiency gains often generate environmental rebound effects, whereby absolute emissions increase due to expanded production and consumption. This proposal augments methane and animal performance measurements from ongoing methane mitigation efforts in Maharashtra, India, with socioeconomic data to model decision-mediated relationships between efficiency, production, and consumption in the dairy sector. We test whether enhanced productivity reduces emissions and identify conditions under which profitability becomes a driver of environmental rebound effects. This project identifies when and how efficiency-based mitigation can reduce emissions without triggering environmental rebound effects driven by household decision-making.
Cornell: Jasmine Dillon (Cornell CALS / Animal Science)
EDF: Abhinav Gaurav (Lead Advisor, Sustainable Dairy)