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Abstract
Agriculture makes a significant contribution to Norway’s emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). Although
agriculture accounts for only 0.3 per cent of GDP, it accounts for roughly 8 per cent of total GHG
emissions. Norwegian agriculture is dominated by livestock production; ruminants (cattle and sheep) are
particularly important. There are opportunities for GHG mitigation under existing technology through
changes in agricultural practices. We derive an abatement cost curve for Norway in terms of the change
in economic welfare. We require Norway to be self-sufficient in agricultural products; i.e. that domestic
production of calories shall be kept at the current level. We use a detailed economic model to assess the
impact and welfare implication of a reduction in GHG emissions. We find that a large part of the
abatement cost curve is negative due to distortions created by domestic support policies. The practical
consequence is that emissions reduction requires that production of grain-based products be increased at
the expense of ruminant-based products.