Dairy sector launches roadmap to sustainability

An "historic roadmap" aimed at delivering an ambitious commitment to improving sustainability was launched yesterday by the UK’s dairy sector.

Paul Flanagan, Dairy Sector Director at the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board.

‘The Dairy Roadmap Climate Ambition: Supporting UK Net-Zero’ sets out the dairy industry’s support for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting global warming, and will set a minimum standard for improvement across the entire industry.

In meeting the challenge of Net Zero, the climate ambition paper commits the sector to a range of scientifically robust and evidence led targets and sets out a delivery programme to support their achievement.

Specifically, the climate ambition paper sets plans to reach Net Zero carbon by 2050 and to maintain positive actions which reduce climate warming caused by methane and nitrous oxides, two of the most poptent greenhouse gases (GHGs) associated with the sector.

“The strength of the Dairy Roadmap is in the span of people and organisations working towards common goals. Our working groups include farmers, processors, retailers, data companies, academics and trade associations,” said Paul Flanagan, Dairy Sector Director at the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB).

“We’ve already made big strides in reducing the environmental footprint of the entire dairy supply chain and we must not be shy about telling that story,” he said, “However, the opportunities for more sharing of best practice and innovations are huge, and we can accelerate these through collaborations like the Dairy Roadmap.”

Dr Judith Bryans, Chief Executive of Dairy UK, said the dairy sector was incredibly proud to be launching the initiative, pointing out that it was built upon the many commitments and efforts which processors and farmers had already made, adding that it brought all branches of the industry together to move forward as one.

“We are dedicated and committed to the sustainability of the sector and in our drive to continually improve. Together we can rise to the challenge, and we’re excited to get going in building the sustainable dairy sector of the future,” said Dr Bryans.

Dairy board chairman with the English NFU, Michael Oakes, said UK dairy farmers were already working hard to address the challenge of climate change, and were now committing to doing even more: “We are engaged in initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of dairy, such as improving productivity, efficient use of nutrients and incorporating renewable and bioenergy systems on farm via solar panels and anaerobic digesters.

“The Dairy Roadmap climate ambition will encourage dairy producers and processors to work together to achieve a common goal, while demonstrating that we can produce climate friendly food to our consumers. Our commitment to science-based targets and a recognition of the role of methane is an important step in cementing the sustainability of dairy for the long term.”

The ambition paper also outlines a range of other commitments which include a commitment to dual accounting, and reporting of carbon footprints using both GWP100 and GWP*. It also proposed to calculate an updated and robust overall carbon footprint for UK Dairy GHG and develop best practice and guidance on how to reduce emissions at farm level.