B.CCH.2301 - Pathways to climate neutrality for the Australian red meat industry
'Climate neutrality' describes a state whereby the volume and kind of greenhouse gas emissions released are within natural limits to cycle, achieving climate stabilisation.
| Project start date: | 30 June 2022 |
| Project end date: | 30 March 2023 |
| Publication date: | 19 July 2023 |
| Project status: | Completed |
| Livestock species: | Grain-fed Cattle, Grass-fed Cattle |
| Relevant regions: | National |
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Download Report
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Summary
The purpose of this project was to identify and evaluate pathways for the Australian red meat industry to become climate neutral. Here, climate neutral refers to a status whereby the radiative forcing (RF) footprint is stabilised or there is no net contribution to future warming.
Objectives
The objective was to identify pathways to achieve and maintain a climate neutral target by the Australian red meat industry in the time horizon to 2030.
A secondary objective was to model the red meat sectors emissions profile against emerging measurement methods that recognise differing lifetime impact of short-lived greenhouse gases such as methane.
Key findings
With business as usual, the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of the Australian red meat industry, assessed using the GWP100 climate metric, increased from 51.3 Mt CO2e in 2020 to 63.5 Mt CO2e in 2030. Combining all interventions enabled the net GHG emissions to be reduced to 17.3 Mt CO2e. More than 80% of GHG emission reductions were related to vegetation management, i.e., trees on farm, soil carbon sequestration, and savannah burning management. While this is a substantial GHG emissions reduction, achieving CN30 (net zero GHG emissions) will require actions exceeding those modelled in this study.
The industry has the potential to become climate neutral by 2026. This is also possible for the beef cattle and sheepmeat sectors individually. The feedlot sector has the potential to achieve climate neutrality in 2028.
Climate neutrality appears realistically achievable and with successful deployment of emission reduction and sequestration strategies there is scope for future industry growth.
The climate neutral approach is based on IPCC science and is well aligned with the climate stabilisation goal of the Paris Agreement.
Benefits to industry
For an industry with substantial biogenic methane emissions, a net zero GHG emission target generally exceeds the climate stabilisation aspiration of the Paris Agreement, with likely economic and social cost. The results obtained in this project can be used to support the formal adoption of a climate neutral target by the Australian red meat industry.
The adoption of an industry climate neutral target would not displace the familiar and well-established target of CN30 under a GWP100 methodology.
MLA action
The recommended action is for MLA to establish a project to formalise terminology and methods related to climate neutrality in national and international contexts, and in collaboration with associated industries (dairy, wool). In addition, MLA should become involved in the development of the common approach to GHG accounting across agricultural sectors in Australia and take action to ensure the climate neutral approach is facilitated. In the international context, coordination could be undertaken with international organisations such as IMS, IDF and FAO, as well as other national organisations directly.
Future research
The report makes four recommendations that relate to:
- Data collection to enable climate actions to be recognised in the annual red meat industry GHG footprint.
- Actions to formalise the terminology and quantification methods for climate neutrality.
- Modelling to evaluate alternative RF stabilisation targets for the industry.
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For more information Contact Project Manager: Margaret Jewell |
Question and answer
Not at all. CN30 has always been about setting an ambitious yet achievable vision for the industry. The original vision for CN30 was based on CSIRO modelling that showed CN30 was achievable with the right innovation, technology and adoption. This report goes to the core of what CN30 is about – investing in innovation to propel us to CN30. It shows we are on the right path and will help guide the industry over the next seven years.
MLA and the industry are absolutely committed to CN30. It is a globally recognised initiative and is having major traction with customers, governments and investors. CN30 is allowing us to demonstrate that the industry has made significant progress, having drastically reduced emissions since the baseline year of 2005. CN30 is continuing to drive innovation in our industry. It is also helping communicate that cattle, sheep and goats didn’t cause the problem – but our industry is absolutely part of the solution.
CN30 has never been about silver bullets. Of course, the industry is investigating promising technology that can deliver a step change, but the real answer to CN30 is about an integrated approach. This report shows that a whole range of measures need to be investigated and work together to reduce emissions in different environments, production systems and parts of the value chain.
This report focusses our efforts. It also reinforces the need for ongoing investment partnerships between the industry, government, and the private sector. Since 2017, MLA has co-invested $140 million in CN30 with plans to invest a further $150 million before the decade is out. MLA understands the challenges of CN30 and the need to rapidly bring new technologies to market. We know that it is possible to reduce methane by up to 90% through practices such as methane-reducing feed additives; there is more work to be done to apply this technology in the production system.
Not at all. It is positive on two main fronts – it helps guide what we need to do to get to CN30; and it also shows that we are projected to make significant further improvements based on our current trajectory. We are ‘building the plane at the same time that we are flying the plane’ and aiming to land at the year 2030 as carbon neutral. The report tells us what we need to do to get there.
The report forecasts an incredible trajectory. We see this as inspiration to do more. A focus on resource and herd efficiency, reproduction and liveweight for age are key strategies producers can consider to support national red meat emissions reductions, today.
