Pathways to Dairy Net Zero, a ground-breaking climate initiative launched September 22, 2021, during Climate Week and one day prior to the United Nations (UN) Food Systems Summit. Nearly 60 leading organizations, including 11 of the 20 largest dairy companies in the world, have already declared their support for the effort. Collectively, these supporters represent approximately 30 percent of total milk production worldwide.

The new climate initiative demonstrates the global dairy sector’s commitment to reducing GHG emissions while continuing to produce nutritious foods for six billion people and provide for the livelihoods of one billion people.

A multi-stakeholder group of organizations, including the global dairy sector and representatives from the scientific and research communities, are working together to develop science-based methodologies, tools and pathways that work for every dairy system.

Research is underway to identify where positive climate change action is possible. The study is led by Scotland’s Rural College and the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre, research institutions from two of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases’ 65 member countries. The research will be backed up by data and analysis from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Looking ahead, the initiative will help tell the story of climate champions in the dairy sector at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November, in order to inspire others who have not yet started their climate action journey.

Partners on the initiative include: Global Dairy Platform, International Dairy Federation, Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform,
International Livestock Research Institute, Dairy Sustainability Framework and IFCN Dairy Research Network. The Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases is a knowledge partner.

GDP is making two new reports available to the global dairy sector. The first is a briefing paper on Carbon Credits, “Carbon credits and the dairy sector: to sell or not to sell?” Co-developed by GDP and Quantis, an international sustainability consultancy, the paper provides background information and practical next steps to determine whether to sell carbon credits without risking the dairy sector’s social license to operate.

The second report contains guidelines on a life-cycle assessment (LCA) -based methodology for calculating carbon sequestration in cattle production systems. The methodology, C-Sequ, was developed by a consortium of dairy and beef organizations, global soil scientists and LCA specialists.

Testing of the C-Sequ methodology is already underway in more than 100 different cattle production systems around the world, but additional dairy pilots are encouraged.