October 19, 2020

'UK livestock sector has to do more to achieve net zero carbon goal by 2050'

An independent assessment of the carbon intensity of all UK livestock production systems has found that currently available technologies cannot deliver even half the industry's 2050 carbon emissions reduction goal.

The study, commissioned by the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL), will be used to inform the debate about climate change and the role livestock can play to reduce emissions that contribute to global warming, said a blog posted on CIEL's website.

"The report represents a widely agreed summary of the current research available on greenhouse gas emissions from the main farmed livestock species in the UK – with interpretation and a number of recommendations from leading livestock, environmental and climate scientists", said Lyndsay Chapman, CIEL CEO.

Lead scientist Prof. Bob Rees, of Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), said the report, titled "Net Zero Carbon & UK Livestock Report", "has identified that even if all known methods for mitigation of carbon emissions were taken up rapidly, the industry could only deliver 19% of the aspirational carbon reduction target by 2035".

The report, he said, highlights the "urgent need to advance technologies and develop new innovations to further reduce emissions beyond the levels that currently known mitigation strategies will deliver.

Dr Elizabeth Magowan, of the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), who coordinated the report, said the study is intended for use as a baseline to drive change throughout the livestock supply chain.

She said, "The report should be used by all parties in the wider supply chain and policymakers to inform debate and complement the good work already being carried out elsewhere in the sector….While the industry is making steps in the right direction, the ambition to achieve the UK's target is huge and known technologies and practices can only get us part of the way".

She urged the UK livestock industry, based on the report's recommendations, to make a combination of greater investment (resources, intellectual capital and financial), improve carbon accounting, and undertake education resulting in adoption, so that it can achieve its net zero carbon goal within the next 30 years.