This study involved estimating the carbon foot print (CF) of sugar production in Eastern Batangas, Philippines whose aims were to identify the "hot spots" of sugar production, to suggest practical options to "cool" these identified hot spots, and to recommend policy options to address the social cost of carbon (SCC). The sources of CF included the detailed operations involved in sugarcane production (plant cane and ratoon) up to milling to produce raw sugar, and the associated CF in cane burning (expressed in CO 2 equivalence). The carbon foot print (CF) of sugarcane production (farm level) was estimated at 5.56 CO 2 t/ha, 16% of total (or 0.067 tCO 2/ton cane) while processing the canes in the mill contributed 47% (16.5 tCO 2), (200 tCO 2/ton cane, 1.98 kg CO 2/kg sugar). The conventional practice of burning canes contributed 37% greenhouse gases at 12.9 tCO 2/ha which led to a considerable increase in CF from 22.03 tCO 2/ha to 34.9 tCO 2/ha or 2.64 to 4.2 kg CO 2/kg sugar. Deducting the equivalent CO 2 sequestered in the soil due to the unburned trash, roots, and stumps retained in the soil as humus - C (at 2.06 t CO 2/ha) decreased the carbon foot print of sugar slightly from 4.2 to 3.98 kg CO 2 per kg sugar. At P13.51/tCO 2, the estimated social cost of carbon (SCC) as year 2011 was PhP 2.34/kg. The SSC of sugar is instructive to (1) the environmental cost of sugar and (2) the needed adjustments in production practices to reduce the sugar carbon foot print in order to ecologically sustain sugarcane production. There is a need to increase the soil organic matter to improve fertilizer use efficiency, soil water-holding capacity, and ultimately increase the energy efficiency of sugar production. N-fertilizer input and cane burning were the two identified major sources of GHG emission. Shifting the conventional production systems to an alternative cane production system where there would be no cane burning and only 50% N-fertilizer would be applied would lead to 40% reduction in CF, from 3.98 to 2.32 kg CO 2 per kg sugar. Accordingly, SCC would decrease from PhP 2.34 to PhP 1.38 per kg sugar. Issuance of a sugar order is necessary to provide the legal basis of charging SCC to the industry key players to fund the programmatic shift of the conventional sugarcane production to an alternative systems to reduce the CF of sugar and to improve the economic viability and the long term sustainability of sugarcane production.
