July 1, 2025

 

Meat and Livestock Australia's net-zero target not achievable by 2030, review claims

 

 

A review conducted by the Red Meat Advisory Council (RMAC) found it was not achievable to meet the ambitious 2030 net-zero target announced by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) in 2017 and adopted in 2019.

 

Independent chair of RMAC John McKillop said it was partly due to a better understanding of emissions reduction and a realisation they were not on track to reach the target.

 

"We just, quite frankly, realised we're not going to get to carbon neutral by 2030," he said. "There's no point in continuing on blindly having a target that we know we're not going to reach."

 

Livestock contributes about 11% of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions, according to the national greenhouse gas inventory.

 

McKillop said dropping the target would not impact any research and development programmes.

 

"We'll still be trying to reduce our emissions as much as we can, but the focus will now be on emissions intensity rather than the absolute number of tonnes of carbon emitted," he added.

 

RMAC will request MLA to complete modelling on emissions intensity, which it estimates will take a year before any new five- and 10-year targets are set for the industry.

 

Pressed on whether this reversal would receive any backlash from consumers or key export markets, McKillop was resolute.

 

"No, I don't think so. I think you could look at it and say: "Well, that was a really ambitious target. You got 78% of the way there, five years out from it"," he said. "As long as that research keeps evolving and that extension keeps getting adopted, then I think we're well and truly on the way to leading the world in terms of climate change from livestock production."

 

In a statement, a federal government spokesperson said the industry would be required to continue to reduce emissions.

 

"The Albanese Labor government has supported the red meat industry in its ambitious goal to be carbon neutral by 2030," the spokesperson said. "While the decision by industry to step away from this aspiration is disappointing, this does not change the need for Australian agriculture to continue to contribute to the economy-wide 2035 targets and the net-zero by 2050 goal, which will require all sectors across agriculture to make meaningful emissions reductions."

- ABC News