GHG Emissions  -  July 26, 2021

UN Initiative Targets Dairy Industry Emissions

The United Nations Food System Pre-Summit saw the launch of the new Pathways to Dairy Net Zero initiative to tackle the carbon footprint of the global dairy sector.

The project will include a multi-stakeholder group of organizations from the dairy sector and scientific communities coming together to identify strategies and technology to reduce emissions from the dairy industry. Research is already underway by the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Scotland’s Rural College and the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre.

Initial research has already found that emissions could be reduced by up to 40% by improving productivity and resource use efficiency. Other key findings include the wide variety of production systems that exist globally with room to reduce greenhouse gas emission intensity and the fact that methane reduction could be the quickest way to see immediate results as a short-lived emissions source.

It is estimated that, while the dairy industry should strive for net-zero carbon emissions, methane and nitrous oxide could be reduced by merely 24-47% and 26%, respectively, in order to reach the goals outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5°C.

The program will officially launch during the UN Food Systems Summit in September in the hope of generating commitments at the UN Climate Change Conference in November.

“Our initial analysis suggests that wider use of existing GHG mitigation technologies will make an important impact in reducing dairy’s emissions in the short term, while the development of new innovations takes place,” Hayden Montgomery, Special Representative of GRA, said in a statement. “This initiative may ultimately act as a blueprint for other livestock sectors.”

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